


The Beast

by more0rLessJess



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Beauty and the Beast AU, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Bratva Oliver Queen, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Felicity is Belle, Oliver Queen Being an Asshole, Oliver is Beast, Ray is Gaston, With A Twist, modern beauty and the beast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:40:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23503258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/more0rLessJess/pseuds/more0rLessJess
Summary: After the murder of his parents, Oliver Queen takes over as the Captain of the Starling chapter of the Bratva. Across Starling, and the Bratva, he's known as 'The Beast' because of his ruthlessness. He rules with an iron fist, and when someone breaks his rules or defies him... He becomes The Beast.When Noah Kuttler steals money and prized secrets from the Bratva and then disappears, the Brotherhood demands retribution in blood. So they kidnap Donna Smoak as leverage for Kuttler to return with what he took, until her daughter, Felicity Smoak discovers what happened and she offers to take her mothers place.Intrigued by Felicity, Oliver decides to make a deal with her, she can work off her fathers debt to the Bratva with her skills in computers and hacking. Once she works off the debt in full, or until they find her father, only then she will be allowed to leave. Felicity accepts, and it sends her into a world of deception, danger and organized crime. If that wasn't enough, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the beast of the man that is Oliver Queen.
Relationships: John Diggle & Felicity Smoak, John Diggle & Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 167
Kudos: 294





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! So i've decided to post this fic because I've had it unfinished in a folder forever and based on what people were saying on twitter, they'd like to see it posted even if its unfinished.  
> Be warned, I dont have an update schedule or anything of the sort with this. It may very well stay unfinished. Who knows? I would like to try and finish it at some point, but dont expect quick updates hahahah.  
> That said, this a Beauty and the Beast Bratva AU with a twist.  
> I plan on posting a song that i think goes with each chapter because B&B is obviously a musical so i wanted to incorporate something musical in this :) it's also a bit different than my other stories but i wanted to kind of put the fairy tale elements in this by doing a prologue. After the prologue it reads a little different and sticks to third person with a past tense mostly hahaha.  
> That said, i hope you guys enjoy!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If you want a kingdom, you're gonna have to kill someone." The Prince by The Silent Comedy

Prologue: _Starling City, 2009_

Oliver sat in the back of the black town car, anxiously checking his watch. He was waiting on his parents to come out of Queen Consolidated and join him so they could all go to dinner.

Apparently, they had something important to tell him.

But he had someone important to _do._

Danielle was her name.

She was a model, or an actress, or something. Maybe it was both. Oliver wasn’t sure and he didn’t care. All he cared about were her legs which went on for miles, her long, soft, wavy brunette hair, full lips and the permanent sultry look on her face. She was tall, brunette and willowy and exactly his type. Oliver had met her at an after party at some event, he wasn’t even sure what it was for, but she had to leave that night for another job far away from Starling before he could charm her into his bed. However, she had promised that the next time she was in town they could meet up. 

Tonight, was that night.

They were going to meet at some fancy restaurant, drink some wine and then hopefully head back to the hotel room he’d acquired and have a fun night.

Well they were, until his parents told him they had important matters to discuss with him and wanted to meet for dinner. Oliver tried to get out of it, but he couldn’t. He was able to push their reservation for later, even though the restaurant had been booked for months because he was a Queen and that name got him whatever he wanted. Danielle agreed on the later time, thankfully.

But he wasn’t in the mood to listen to his parents tell him how he was a failure and needed to be doing more for the family. Oliver was hoping he could get it with over quickly, and then go meet Danielle for a night of good wine and even better sex.

Oliver was startled out of the fantasy of where his night was going to lead him by the car door opening. His mother slid into the seat first, all poise and grace, followed by his father looking like the typical businessman with his stern expression and pressed suit.

“Hello, son.” Robert Queen greeted, “How are you tonight?”

Oliver fought the urge to roll his eyes at his father use of firm politeness and manners. He greeted his own son like he was just another one of his employee’s.

“I’m fine, Dad. Thank you. How are you?” Oliver replied, knowing that not returning the greeting would be a social faux pass, which would be unacceptable of the Queen family.

It didn’t matter if it was just them and their driver in the car, the Queens had an image to upkeep and as long as they were in public, they were expected to behave as if all of society was watching.

“I’m well.” His father returned, adding, “I’ve rented out a private room at Table Salt for us.”

Oliver knew what was left unsaid. A private room, that wasn’t actually private since staff would be present, was to keep Oliver on his best behavior as they told him whatever it was they needed too. It didn’t bode well for him. Oliver glanced at his mother who had been quiet the whole time, she had her hands folded in her lap and was staring straight ahead, refusing to look at his father or him, she was the picture of regal elegance. But Oliver could see the tenseness in her shoulders, and the firm press of her lips.

She was upset about something.

Usually, she only became upset when it involved her children. Or when she disagreed with her husband.

Yet another sign that this dinner wasn’t going to well for him.

Oliver let out a sigh and leaned back in his seat, slouching. He closed his eyes, not caring if his father looked at him with disapproval for it.

“Okay.” Oliver mumbled, eyes still shut.

His father must have signaled the driver to go, because Oliver felt the car pull away from the curb and move into the busy traffic. Inside was quiet as they drove to Table Salt. His mother still wasn’t speaking, and his father hadn’t said another word. Oliver choose to ignore the silence and instead pictured all the things he was going to do later with Danielle in their hotel room.

The loud roar of engine filled his ears, causing him to sit up straight and open his eyes. It sounded like a motorcycle, and he’d been looking at getting one for a while. He shifted in his seat to look out the car window to see it, maybe it’d help him decide what kind he wanted. Right next to his window was a black motorcycle with two people on it, both dressed head to toe in black leather and black helmets covering their faces.

Oliver thought that was strange since it was summer time and hot outside.

He heard another rev of an engine, the same kind as the other motorcycle. It pulled up on his parents’ side of the car, keeping even with their vehicle in the traffic. The identical bike also had two riders, both in all black and matching the others. His father noticed them, and fear flashed across his face.

“Oliver, get away from the window! Get down now!” Robert screamed, gripping Oliver’s shoulder, pushing him to the floorboard before Oliver even had time to react.

Not even a second later, his mother screamed as the deafening sound of bullets smashed into each side of the town car. Pure fear filled his veins, making him unable to move as glass and bullets rained down. Oliver felt his mother throw herself on top of him, her weight pushing him further into the floorboards until he couldn’t see anything but the edge of seat where it bolted into the grey carpet.

The next few seconds seemed to go in slow motion.

The car jerked to the side, skidding along the street until it crashed into a light pole. There was another roar of engines as the motorcycles drove away and the sound of gunshots stopped.

Suddenly, there was quiet. The stillness in the air felt wrong compared to the volume and chaos of mere moments ago.

All he could hear was the sound of their cars horn blaring and his own ragged breaths. His ears were ringing, and he tasted blood his mouth.

He must have busted his lip when his father forcefully threw him to the ground.

Oliver tried to sit up but was unable too. His mother remained splayed on top of him, shielding his body with her own, and his shoulder was throbbing so much he could hardly move his arm.

“Mom?” He cried out, trying to carefully slide out from under her in the confined space.

There was no answer. He still couldn’t see anything but the grey carpeted floor.

His heart stuttered painfully in his chest, his breaths were so uneven he felt like his lungs were going to explode. Oliver could barely get air, but he needed to check on his parents. He managed to get out from underneath her and he immediately wished he couldn’t see anything again.

All he could see was red. It was stained everywhere.

Blood covered the seats, along with bullets and tears in the fabric. His father was sitting up in his seat, the same blue eyes he had given Oliver staring unblinkingly ahead. Blood poured from multiple wounds. His stomach, his shoulder, his heart. But he didn’t move or cry out in pain.

Robert Queen was motionless.

Oliver gasped, tears streaming down his face. His dad was gone.

He looked towards his mother next, she laid unnaturally still on the floorboards.

“No, no, no!” He screamed in anguish, reaching for his mother.

He ignored the searing pain in his shoulder and pulled her towards him gently, turning her over onto her back as he pulled her into his lap. Her chest was unmoving, and her eyes were closed. Dark red blood stained the once blue silk blouse she wore. Oliver frantically ran his hands over her sides, trying to find the wound. He found the gaping hole against her ribs and placed as much pressure as he could, his hands slick from her blood.

“Mom, please wake up. You can’t be gone too. No. _Please_.” He sobbed, rocking her in his arms. “I need you. _Thea_ needs you. Come back!”

It was how emergency responders found the Queen family, the eldest son holding his dead mother next to his deceased father.

Oliver gained his first physical scar that day, a gunshot wound through his shoulder. He didn’t care.

He didn’t know it yet, but he’d soon gain more.

However, it wouldn’t truly begin until his late father’s longtime friend, Anatoly Knyazev, would approach him at his parent’s funeral, promising Oliver revenge and justice. For a price. He’d gain new family in the form of the Brotherhood. 

It was a curse and a cure all at once. 

He’d collect enough scars, and cause enough damage, to eventually earn the name “Beast” throughout the Bratva.

Oliver numbly accepted his title. 

He sold his soul to protect his litter sister and avenge his parents, some scars and even more blood coating his hands were the price to pay. As long as the blood wouldn’t be his family’s ever again, he didn’t care. 

Curses weren’t meant to be broken and he knew his was for life, as was the Bratva, so he embraced it.

He became his nickname, taking up the mantle of the ‘Beast’ with little hesitation.

No one would dare harm his family again. Not with the Beast to guard them all. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked, Money don't grow on trees" - Ain't no rest for the wicked by Cage the Elephant

_New York City, Monday Morning, 2012_

Felicity stood in line at her favorite little café, _The Busy Bean,_ about a block away from Palmer Tech with a grin on her face despite that it was Monday. It was her routine, every morning she’d take the subway from her little studio apartment to the stop that was only a minute walk from _The Busy Bean_. She’d get a large cup of coffee, the kind depended on her mood, and some type of pastry and eat it on her way into the office.

She loved it.

Maybe it was because she didn’t grow up in a small town, so she never had that experience to compare it too, but she loved the bright lights and the hustle and bustle of other people going about their own routines. When she was at MIT in Massachusetts, it wasn’t as busy as New York City or the Las Vegas strip, but it was still an urban area. It was always busy, thriving and full of energy. She had grown used to it and enjoyed the familiarity of big city life.

That kind of energy was just as important to her as the caffeine in her coffee cup.

“Next!” Yelled the frazzled employee, he had a name tag on his shirt that said ‘Matt’ in plain black writing. 

“Good morning,” She greeted cheerfully, stepping up to the counter, “Can I get a large vanilla iced coffee and a cheese Danish please?”

Matt the employee typed a few buttons on his screen, “Total is $5.63. Name?” He didn’t smile or even return her pleasantry, but she didn’t care. He wasn’t purposefully being rude, it was New York City, things moved so fast and it was the middle of the morning rush, so she understood.

It was another part of the charm of city life. No one paid attention to one another and everyone just minded their business.

Felicity appreciated that.

“Felicity. Thanks!” She said, handing over her card. He swiped it swiftly, but this time he gave her a quick smile before yelling out for the next customer.

She took her card back, shoving it haphazardly into her wallet and stood off to the side waiting for her name to be called. A moment or two later, her order was ready, and she grabbed it with another thanks, heading out the door. When she glanced down at the cup, she realized that they spelled her name wrong.

This time, she wasn’t so endeared by city life. She rolled her eyes.

“How do you even misspell ‘Felicity?’” She complained to herself, walking down the street to Palmer Tech.

Felicity made her way through the lobby, flashing her badge to the security guard and heading to the elevators. She ate the pastry on the way up to the 15th floor, also known as the Applied Sciences division. Her home and stomping ground.

She loved it there.

She wasn’t the head of Applied Sciences or anything, but eventually that would be her goal. Maybe not at Palmer Tech, maybe somewhere else where she wouldn’t have to deal with an over eager CEO who was constantly flirting with her. As of now, she was just another programmer and tech developer, which was her dream job. Right in the trenches with other like-minded people who thought like she did, and where she wouldn’t have to deal with crazy paperwork and office politics. She was recruited straight out of MIT and had been there ever since.

Felicity might be annoyed with Ray Palmer himself, but she did love her job. It made everything else bearable.

The elevator doors slid open and she stepped out, throwing her trash into the bin right next to the elevator bay doors. She sipped her coffee through the straw happily, making her way through the lab and to her office.

“Hey Felicity,” Curtis Holt, a friend and fellow employee greeted as she passed his work station.

“Hey, Curtis.” She returned, tilting her head to the side and looking at what he was working on, “Whatcha doing?”

“It’s the implantable microchip that’s meant to help people with paralysis regain control and movement of the affected area. But right now, it keeps short circuiting and it caught on fire, like two seconds before you came in.” He said, running a frustrated hand through his black hair, making his afro even larger. 

“Oh wow. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand if you wanted? A second pair of eyes may help.” Felicity offered, taking another long draw from her coffee.

“Yeah, that’d be great actually.” Curtis agreed, sounding relieved. Then he squinted at her cup, “They spelled your name wrong.” He pointed out, rather unhelpfully.

“Ugh, I know. But the coffee’s good so who cares.”

Curtis laughed, “Point taken.”

Felicity grinned, “I’ll be back in a second to help you out, let me go set my stuff down in my office first.”

“Okay.” He agreed, then called out as she was walking away, “Leave the misspelled cup full of liquid that can be spilled in your office, Smoak. You are way too clumsy to have that near my precious electronics.” His voice was teasing.

In return, she held up her middle finger to him and stepped into her office. Unfortunately, he was right. She sucked down the last of her coffee, throwing the plastic cup away in the recycling bin. Felicity set down her purse and pulled out her phone.

Two missed calls lit up screen, both from her mother. Which was strange because it was only 8 in the morning in New York, so it had to be 5 am in Las Vegas. Her mother usually had just gotten home and was falling asleep at that time after working the night shift at the casino.

Then again, her mother had no grasp on how to use technology. It was probably a butt dial. Felicity resolved herself to call her later tonight. She set her cell phone on her desk, leaving it in her office so she didn’t get distracted while helping Curtis.

She was stepping out of her doorway when she ran into someone, literally. Hands came up to her waist to steady her, while her face was squished against the fabric of a suit. A now familiar cologne filled her nose causing Felicity to hold back a groan. Ray was still her boss even though he drove her crazy.

“Wow, I can’t believe this would be the morning you finally fell for me. It’s been so long.” The CEO/President of Palmer Tech flirted, even without looking she knew that a bright, yet insincere smile lit up his face.

Felicity hated it, and she didn’t particularly like him. At first when she was hired, she thought his constant flirting and compliments were flattering. Until he asked her out. She said no because she didn’t want to date her boss, and instead of dropping it, he continued to ask. But she did like her job, so she kept her mouth shut. Felicity pulled away from him quickly. He let her go, his hands holding a moment to long at her waist. She resisted the urge to smack his hands.

“Technically, I stumbled. I didn’t fall so, doesn’t count.” She retorted, unable to not bite back a little bit.

He chuckled. “True. But you will fall one day. I can count on it.” Ray shot her a wink and grin that he meant to be charming but really just came off as arrogant and oily.

Felicity gritted her teeth.

“I have some work to do… So, if you’ll excuse me.” She said, brushing past him.

He followed her to Curtis’s station.

“I have better work for you to do.” Ray said easily, the whiteness of teeth gleaming in his grin.

Her head whipped around to him, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Felicity swore to God if that was some sexual innuendo then she was going say screw her job and knee him in the balls.

“It means I want you to come work as my Vice President. Right underneath me, you could still do some work with Applied Sciences, but also have a company wide reach.” He said as if what he was offering was no big deal.

Felicity’s jaw dropped, and Curtis gasped. He’d always offered grandiose date ideas and flirtatious words, but never had he offered a promotion. Immediately, her guard went up. As much as a job like that could make her career, she refused to be promoted for reasons other than her intellect. If she took the job, Ray would hold it over her head and there was no way she was going to give him power like that over her.

“No, Mr. Palmer.” She replied firmly, “I can’t accept that position. I love my job here and I’m not experienced enough to be a VP of Fortune 500 company.”

“C’mon, just say yes. Think about it. Me and you on the top floor of Palmer Tech, overseeing the whole company and looking at the New York City skyline. What’s better than that?” He said flirtatiously, taking a step closer and raising his arm like he was about to put a hand on her shoulder.

Felicity was about to tell him a whole list of things that sounded better than that, like a root canal, when the smell of smoke filled the air. Palmer stepped away from her and glanced down warily at the micro chip that caught on fire again.

“Sorry, Mr. Palmer,” Curtis apologized hastily, “It’s been doing that off and on all morning.” He threw a cloth on top of the microchip, snuffing out the flames.

“See to it that you’re not wasting company resources on tech that just isn’t going to work, Mr. Holt,” Ray said sternly before turning his attention back on her, “Let me know what you want to do, Felicity.” With that he walked away.

“Oh my god, he’s such a sleezeball!” Curtis complained, waving his hands in the air angrily.

Felicity scoffed. “Trust me, I know. You’re not the one he’s propositioning.” Then she grinned, “Please tell me that fire wasn’t an accident, and you’re just an amazing friend.”

Curtis returned her grin, “I’m an amazing friend.”

She laughed, “Bless you, Curtis. Now lets see if we can get it to stop catching on fire at all.” She said, focusing on the chip.

Curtis seemed to understand she didn’t want to talk about the Palmer situation so let the subject drop and they started to work.

**

 _Starling City_ , _The same day, 2012_

“ _We spoke with the woman, Kapitan. She says she doesn’t know anything about him. I do not believe her. Should we ask again?”_ The Russian that came through the line was harsh and unforgiving. Oliver knew they had left unsaid what they truly meant by asking Donna Smoak again.

“ _No, not yet. Watch her and see if she makes any calls or meets with anyone else. Give it 24 hours then update me again. I’ll make my decision from there.”_ Oliver commanded, the Russian passing through his lips as easily as breathing.

“ _Yes, Kapitan._ ”

Oliver didn’t bother answering, hanging up the phone instead. He stood in front of the windows in his office Queen Consolidated, looking at the other buildings that made up Starling. He heard the door to his office open, but he stayed facing the windows. Only one person would walk in without knocking first.

“I did some more digging, Oliver. Found out that Noah Kuttler might also have a daughter with the ex-wife. Or at least, Donna has a daughter, Felicity Smoak age 22. There was no father listed on the birth certificate and she took her mother’s last name but with the timing of her birth, he’s likely the father. He never talked about a daughter, but I bet they most likely kept it quiet to keep her safe.” John Diggle, his second in command informed him.

“Safe from people like us, you mean.” Oliver replied, a sigh making its way from his chest. He turned around and Dig didn’t say anything, instead giving him a sympathetic look. “Where is she now? The daughter?”

“According to what I found, she’s in New York City working at Palmer Tech. She graduated MIT at 19 and was recruited almost immediately. She’s a smart girl, convinces me even more that Noah is her father.” Dig said, sounding a little impressed.

Oliver nodded. “I agree. They don’t call him the Calculator for nothing. He was sending money to Donna Smoak for years, some of it being what he stole from us. You don’t do that for just an ex-wife.”

Dig hesitated, and Oliver noticed. He raised an eyebrow, signaling Dig to speak his mind.

“Oliver, I don’t think the girl knows anything about Noah working for the Bratva or the money he stole. It doesn’t look like Noah was really in her life. She’s innocent. Donna took the money he sent over the years, and I think she used it to pay her daughters college tuition, but I don’t believe the girl ever knew.” John explained, handing him a file on the two Smoak women.

He opened it, reading through what Dig uncovered. Oliver agreed with John’s conclusion. From what he could see, it looks like Donna Smoak raised her daughter alone working as a cocktail waitress and they were in borderline poverty most of their life. Felicity eventually got accepted to MIT at the age of 16, left Las Vegas and it seemed like she never looked back. He flipped to the picture of the girl.

It was a selfie, most likely from her social media, showing her bright smile with full pink lips stretched so wide that it caused dimples to pop up in her cheeks. She had blue eyes behind rectangular framed glasses and golden blonde hair. She was beautiful, he noted, and she looked happy.

Oliver didn’t like destroying another person’s happiness due to the sins of their father, but it had to be done.

It happened to him, and the cycle would continue with Felicity Smoak.

Noah Kuttler stole millions from the Bratva and then disappeared with inside knowledge of the way the Brotherhood worked and intimate details of their many operations. He knew names, places, and businesses he shouldn’t. Oliver couldn’t let that go. Noah had to be found, the longer he was out there the bigger the risk he became.

“If Donna Smoak doesn’t give up any information, and we still have nothing on the Kuttler then we’ll bring Donna here, to Starling. It’ll send a message to Kuttler, he has to be watching her. If there’s still no word, then we go after the daughter.” Oliver instructed, his voice flat.

Diggle just nodded, “I’ll make some calls, see if my other contacts found out anything.” He exited in the room.

Oliver ran his hands over his face, feeling the roughness of his stubble. He absentmindedly noted he needed to shave soon. He knew Dig didn’t want to bring in the girl. Hopefully they’d find out something soon about her father so they wouldn’t have too.

He didn’t want to ruin an innocent girl and her mother’s lives but he had no other option. It was how the Brotherhood worked. Blood for blood. Noah Kuttler knew that when he joined, as did Oliver, and now they both had to suffer the consequences of their choices.

**

_New York City, Sometime later, Monday evening, 2012_

Felicity took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Curtis’s chip was going to be the death of her. Every time they found a solution, another problem popped up. It was frustrating, but it also felt good to use her brain to solve a puzzle.

She hated mysteries, and she firmly believed they needed to be solved.

“Alright, that’s it. I’m calling it quits for tonight. I promised my husband I’d be home for dinner at seven sharp and if I don’t leave now, I’ll never make it and then I’ll be sleeping on the couch.” Curtis said, standing up and stretching.

“I might as well head home for the night too. I don’t want Palmer to surprise me in the lab when no one else is around.” She commented distractedly, adjusting her glasses from where they’d slid down her nose.

Felicity positioned them in time to see the frown pulling down Curtis’s lips.

“Maybe you should complain to HR about a hostile working environment.” He suggested, concern on his face.

Felicity scoffed without meaning too. “Please, Curtis. That won’t do anything. This is his company and everyone else loves him here. No one would believe me, or I’d be blackballed. I love my job and the work I do too much to risk it.”

Curtis patted her on the shoulder comfortingly, “I’m sorry. It just sucks and I wished there was something you could do about it.”

Felicity grinned, a bit evilly. “Well, sometimes I purposefully delete emails and appointments out of his calendar or change them completely so we can avoid each other. His assistant is technologically inept, so he never notices.”

Curtis burst out laughing. “Remind me not to mess with you, Smoak.”

“Oh, consider that your official warning.”

Almost an hour and a half later, Felicity was sitting at her coffee table with take out Chinese food and scrolling through her DVR. She couldn’t start eating until she found a good show.

Her phone buzzed where it laid on the table, next to the bag of take out. It was her mother.

Shit.

She meant to call her back earlier. Felicity grabbed the phone, sliding her finger across the screen to answer the call.

“Hey, mom. I’m sorry I missed your calls, I meant to call you back sooner, but work was busy.” Felicity said without preamble. She knew her mom would bring it up anyways.

“ _It’s okay, baby girl. How are you? You okay?”_ It was Donna Smoak’s voice coming over the line, but it didn’t sound like her. Her voice was higher pitched than usual, and she sounded scared.

Felicity sat up, concern flooding through her. “Mom, I’m fine. Are you okay? You sound.. frazzled. What’s wrong? Don’t you have work?”

“ _Nothings wrong, I’m fine. I just wanted to check in with you. And I called before I left for work. You’re sure everything’s okay with you? No strange encounters?”_ Her mom laughed, trying to sound light but Felicity could hear the actual worry underneath.

“No, of course not. I mean there’s Ray. But that’s just the usual. Mom, you’re the one who doesn’t seem okay.” She answered, a frown on her face.

“ _Oh, Ray? Maybe you should finally take him up on one of those offers to get on that fancy plane of his and go on a trip for a little while. That could be fun baby girl, you work too much.”_

Now, Felicity knew something was definitely wrong. Donna Smoak did not like Ray Palmer, she said he had ‘creeper eyes’ and didn’t know how to take no for answer.

“What?” Felicity asked incredulously, “You hate Palmer. Why are you trying to get me out of town? Something is going on, and I want you to tell me the truth. I can help.”

Her mother let out a sob over the phone that twisted Felicity’s stomach. She wasn’t hungry anymore.

“ _I don’t know how to say this baby girl, but… it has to do with your dad._ ” Her mom paused over the phone, taking a shaky breath, “ _He didn’t leave us just because. He left because he got involved with some bad people, the Russian mob kind of bad and I warned him not too, and he didn’t listen. Noah said we needed the money, but I told him that it wasn’t worth the risk to our family, to you. I told him he could either stop messing around with them and get out while he still could or he could get out of our lives. And… And he chose to leave, he decided the money was worth more than us.”_

Felicity’s breath caught in her throat as a few hot tears slid down her cheeks. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? I deserved to know!”

“ _I know and I am so sorry. I just didn’t want to hurt you even more than you already were. So, I kept my mouth shut. Over the years, he sent us some money. I never wanted it, I knew it was dirty money, but I had a genius little girl who deserved all the world could give her. I set it all aside and put it into a college fund.”_

“What are you talking about? I had a scholarship.” Felicity said, absolutely confused.

 _“I had my boss at the casino make up that scholarship you won for MIT, I couldn’t explain where the money was coming from to you without telling you everything and I thought that was the only way._ ” Her mom sounded like she was crying now too, sniffling into the phone.

Felicity felt dizzy. She thought she’d won the scholarship fair and square, all on her own. Her mom told her about the scholarship program the casino was doing, so she applied and had won. She never knew it was dirty money from her father.

“You shouldn’t of kept any of that from me! I deserved to know. I deserved to be able to choose if I wanted to take any money that man ever gave us!” Felicity all but yelled.

Her mom let out a sigh on her line. “ _I should have told you sooner, but I wont apologize about the money. You needed it to get out of Vegas and make something of yourself. You are too smart, too kind and too ambitious to not have every opportunity you deserve. If you had known, you wouldn’t have taken it and you would have lost your chance and I love you too much for that baby girl. That big brain of yours is going to change the world. But to do that, you need to stay safe first.”_

Felicity was still angry at her mother for lying to her all these years, but she could sort of understand her reasons for not telling her. But for now, Felicity was more worried for her mother and why she was telling her all of this now. It couldn’t be anything good.

“Mom, what do you mean ‘stay safe’,” She questioned, a lump in her throat. “You’re not okay, are you? What’s going on?”

Her mom started to cry again, and when she spoke, she sounded more scared than Felicity had ever heard her. It was hard to scare Donna Smoak. She worked 60-hour weeks in tight dresses and stilettos as cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. She had seen a lot, so if she was scared, it was bad.

 _“After I got off work last night, two men with Russian accents approached me when I was leaving the casino and started asking questions about Noah and where he was. I guess he left the Bratva, but you don’t leave the mob. Not by choice. I told them I didn’t know anything, and I haven’t heard from him in years. I don’t think they believed me and now I’m pretty sure they’re parked in an SUV in front of my apartment building watching me.”_ There was a rustling noise over the phone, like she was peeking through the blinds.

Felicity was terrified for her mother and angry at her deadbeat father. Because of course he’d find another way to screw them over almost a decade later.

“Mom, please call the police! Tell them that you’re being watched.”

“ _Oh honey, I can’t do that. The Russian mob has some control here, no doubt that they have people in the police too. If I call, I might make it worse. I just needed to make sure you were safe.”_

Her heart squeezed painfully. Despite growing up in Vegas, Felicity had been sheltered from a lot of more dangerous sides of it. Sure, she may have grown up eating bar nachos while doing her homework and learning to count cards in a casino, but nothing ever truly dangerous. Partly because of her mother, and partly because Felicity didn’t really have many friends growing up. She’d skipped so many grades that she was younger than her peers and no one wanted to hangout with the much younger girl who was way too into computers and seemed to always say the wrong thing.

 _“_ Come stay here with me then. I’ll pay for your plane ticket. Get away from Vegas for a little while and maybe they’ll leave you alone.” Felicity practically begged her mother.

“ _I can’t do that either. I don’t want to put you in danger. I’m just going to lay low here and hopefully they’ll realize I don’t know anything.”_ Donna didn’t sound convinced at her own words.

A fierce determination settled over Felicity, she was going to find her father. She’d do whatever it took to help her mother and if that meant some illegal hacking and turning her father in, then so be it. He was the one dumb enough to piss off the Russian mob. And if she couldn’t find her father, she’d find whatever she could on the organization itself.

Know your enemy and all that.

“Mom, don’t worry. I’m going to figure it out, I’ll find dad and make him go back.” Felicity promised.

_“No! You will absolutely not go anywhere near any of this, do you understand me Felicity Megan Smoak?”_

Felicity flinched at the sound of her mothers ‘Loud Voice.’ Yet she also knew she wasn’t going to listen to her mother, she never really had, so why start now. But to give her mother some piece of mind, she’d agree.

“Okay, okay. I wont.”

 _“Promise me, Felicity. This is dangerous.”_ Her mom said sternly.

Felicity crossed her fingers on the hand that wasn’t holding the phone. “I promise.”

Felicity heard her mom let out a relieved sigh. _“Thank you, baby girl. I love you so very much. And I’ll keep in touch with you, okay? Same goes for you, tell me if anything happens.”_

“I will, and I love you too. Please stay safe.” Felicity said, her voice choked with emotion and the threat of more tears about to fall. She had a bad feeling about all of this.

Her mom said she’d try her best and told her she loved her one more time before hanging up. Felicity sat on her couch for a few more moments, completely shell-shocked. Her entire life was just turned upside down in the matter of minutes. Breaking out of her stupor, she pushed the take out bag to the side, she wouldn’t be able to stomach any food, and pulled her laptop out of its case where it was resting on the floor.

Felicity took a deep breath, cracked her knuckles, and started typing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments or kudos you guys would like to leave behind would be wonderful :) also follow me on twitter! @ more0rlessjess


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "i swore an oath and with my life i would pay" Nightshade by the Lumineers

_New York City, Early Tuesday morning, 2012_

Felicity searched through everything she could all night and well into the early morning and she still hadn’t found her father. She had found plenty of other things, but not his location.

Noah Kuttler no longer existed. He had scrubbed all of his records, his social security number, license pictures from the DMV, and everything that had his name or his face on it out of every government system. That was so hard to do it wasn’t even funny.

Felicity could do it herself if she absolutely had too, but she didn’t know a single other person who had that kind of skill.

Then she remembered that this was her father she was hunting and started thinking of an alias he may use. He left when she was just seven, but when he was still in her life, they had a good relationship, always bonding over technology and puzzles.

One of his favorites were anagrams, he said that he liked them so much because all the clues were already there if someone just looked hard enough.

So that’s what she did. She tried out multiple forms of the name Noah Kuttler, and finally she found one version that showed results.

Hank Roulett.

She almost wanted to laugh at the obviousness, and irony, of it. When she was little, she named the first computer she’d build with her father, ‘Hank’, while the ‘Roulett’ was a nod to Las Vegas using a type of gambling table, even though it was misspelled, it was pronounced the same.

From there, she’d discovered several of her fathers off-shore accounts where he hid his money, but all of them were drained into a singular account that was stateside, in Washington, as of a week ago. But the money was withdrawn from that one as well. When she hacked into the banks security system to get the camera footage on the day the money was withdrawn, it was so corrupted that it would be nearly impossible to recover it.

Felicity had checked every single nearby camera, from businesses, traffic cams, ATM’s, all of it, and still nothing. Every single piece of footage from that day was either corrupted, not recorded at all, or a loop of same footage.

Her father knew how to cover his tracks and it was frustrating beyond belief.

She had never known anyone to be at her skill level, or better, but it figures the only person who was capable enough was him.

Felicity refused to let him beat her.

This was computers and code, those were her strength, her superpower. She wasn’t going to let him get away.

She thought about writing a code to help clean up the corrupted video footage she found, but it would take more time than she had. She needed to find her father, and quickly. Her mother depended on it.

He may have deleted all pictures of himself on the internet, but he couldn’t hack a hard copy. Felicity stood quickly and raced to the closet that held a mix of Hanukah decorations, coats and umbrellas. She stood on tip-toes trying to reach the shoe box on the top shelf. She was able to grip the edge of it and pull it towards herself so she could grab it fully and take it down. Felicity moved back to her couch, setting the box on the cushion next to her.

With a deep breath, she opened the lid. It was full of old pictures and memories, some from her college goth phase and some a lot older. She rummaged through searching for the only picture she still had of her dad. She found it near the bottom of the box. In it sat the two of them in front of a radio that was in pieces. Felicity was about six years old in the picture, holding a screwdriver in her hand and grin on her face as she stared down at the taken apart radio. Her father wore his own proud smile, but he was looking up into the camera and at the woman behind it, nothing but affection and fondness in his eyes.

She tore her eyes away from it and slid it through her scanner before laying it face down back in the box. She uploaded the picture, cropping it to just his face, and then used the facial recognition program she designed for Palmer Tech to run the image.

She also may have borrowed a Palmer Tech satellite or two, but Ray owed her.

She figured that even with the extra power it would take a while, because the photo was old, and Noah had surely aged some. Felicity had tweaked the program to do a variation of the ways he could have aged over the years and then run each, individual variation through the it. While she waited on that, she looked at what her other searches had pulled up on the Russian mob.

Apparently, they were called the Bratva, or the Brotherhood. The had a fairly large presence in the United States, mostly on the West Coast. The FBI had noticed an uptrend in organized crime in a specific part of Washington, called Starling City. It seemed like all the activity was starting to originate there and spread outwards. The Fed’s didn’t know who the West Coast leader was, or Capitan, they only had an alias.

‘The Beast.’

Felicity thought that was a little dramatic, and a lot terrifying. It couldn’t be good that a man nicknamed the ‘Beast’ was hunting her father down and had her mother in his crosshairs. The FBI weren’t able to find out who he was, but they weren’t her, and they didn’t have access to what she did. So, she started to research as much as she could about Starling City.

Apparently, Starling had a massive divide in income between its citizens. It was like the city was split in half, a line down the middle that separated the different socioeconomic classes.

The richer, more well-off half, lived in the downtown corporate area or on the outskirts where there were forests, and large houses or mansions in sprawling neighborhoods with perfectly trimmed lawns and fancy cars parked in the drive way. While the less fortunate, poorer citizens, lived in what was called the Glades, a rougher part of Starling. Crime ran rampant there, everything from gang violence, drugs, racketeering, and murder.

In her research of the wealthy, more prominent members of society, she found two families who basically controlled the city. The Queens and the Merlyn’s. Each had their own corporation in the heart of Starling, Queen Consolidated and Merlyn Global respectively. She’d bet her tablet that one of those families had ties to the Bratva. They were powerful, influential, and beyond rich.

No one could gain that type of prestige without breaking a few laws.

A strange sense of hyper awareness settled over her. Felicity had received offers to work at both companies when she graduated, but she chose Palmer Tech over them. Six years later and she wondered how different her life would have been if she had chosen one of them over Palmer Tech.

Maybe she would have realized what was going on with her father sooner and been able to stop him from endangering her and her mom.

She shook her head to clear those thoughts. It wasn’t the time to go down the ‘What If’ rabbit hole.

Both the Queen’s and the Merlyn’s had gone through their more than fair share of tragedy. Malcolm Merlyn, CEO of Merlyn Global, lost his wife in a mugging when his son Thomas, was just a boy. As sad as that was, the Queen’s had them beat in the tragedy aspect.

Six years ago, Robert and Moira Queen were in the car on the way to dinner with their only son, Oliver, when their car was gunned down. Both Robert and Moira lost their lives, but their son survived, leaving him the sole guardian of his little sister, Thea. The police never found out who did it.

Not long after their deaths, Oliver Queen dropped off the face of the earth for five years. He came back about a year ago and took his place as CEO of Queen Consolidated like he had never left.

It sent off alarm bells in her head.

Tragic deaths then a mysterious disappearance? She’d read enough comics to recognize an origin story when she saw one.

The Oliver Queen before his parent’s deaths had been a carefree, partying play boy who had seemed to have no interest in the family company-- that is if the tabloids articles and photographs of him with a multitude of women were to believed. But when he came back from wherever he had been, he’d stayed away from the spotlight and cameras, and he wasn’t seen with a different woman every night. He still went out and dated, but not the way he had in the past. The very few pictures she had found of his more recent exploits were leaving classy restaurants or high-end bars, seemingly sober with beautiful but put well put together women.

Everything she found made him seem like he was focused on taking over his parents’ legacy with Queen Consolidated the legitimate way. 

At least, it seemed like he was serious until about seven months ago, when he opened a club called Verdant in the middle of the Glades.

Yet another thing that convinced her something wasn’t right with Oliver Queen.

Why would he need a night club if he no longer partied and already had a large stream of revenue from his company?

She thought it was ingenious really.

What better way to run an organized crime ring than from the apex of where the crime took place?

It’d be easy enough to receive shipments of whatever he wanted, he could deal drugs or sell weapons and whatever the hell else the mob did, as well as launder money through it because night clubs were a prosperous business and it would be hard to prove fraud.

Not to mention the international reach he’d have with his day job as CEO at Queen Consolidated. They had branches all over the world.

Including Moscow, Russia.

It was official. Felicity was almost positive that Oliver Queen was ‘the Beast.’

He had to be, no one else fit the bill.

She’d researched Tommy Merlyn and Malcolm Merlyn as well, but Tommy was in a committed relationship with a high-powered district attorney whose father was the police captain and while Malcolm Merlyn seemed like a sleazy corporate suit, Oliver still fit the role of mob boss better.

Felicity pulled up one of the more recent pictures of Oliver Queen, he was leaving QC and being ushered into a black SUV by a very tall, very large bodyguard with dark skin. Felicity facial recognition program IDed him as John Diggle, former Special Forces. But she couldn’t confirm if he was involved into the illegal parts of his client’s job. Her gut was telling her he was, because she didn’t see how he could be Mr. Queen’s bodyguard without knowing. However, she didn’t find anything definitive.

She turned her focus back onto the other man. In the picture, Oliver had his phone to his ear, and an angry expression on his face. His jaw, which was covered in stubble, was clenched tightly and his eyebrows drawn down into a harsh glare.

He definitely looked intimidating enough to be a mob boss.

Despite all of that, she still thought he was extremely handsome.

“Irrelevant, Felicity.” She mumbled. 

She was about to start hacking in the Queen Consolidated network and see what could find, when the alarm on her phone started blaring.

Felicity nearly jumped out of her skin. She shut it off quickly, shocked that it was already 6:00 am. She stayed up through the whole night without even realizing, and now she had to go to work on no sleep.

“Frakking fantastic Felicity,” She muttered to herself then snorted, “Try saying that five times fast.”

Oh god. She couldn’t stop talking to herself.

She really was sleep deprived.

**

The first thing Felicity did when she walked into her office at Palmer Tech was shut and lock her door. She planned on doing some major snooping into a rival company, and probable mob boss, so privacy was needed.

She couldn’t risk having her coworkers or the CEO/President himself walk in unannounced.

She took a big swig of her third hot coffee that morning. It burned her throat on the way down, but it also woke her up, so she wasn’t complaining.

Felicity glanced at her clock, it was eight am exactly and she really wanted to check in on her mom but if she had gone to work, she may be asleep now.

Screw it. She needed to know her mom was safe. She dialed quickly and her mom answered after the second ring.

“Oh, thank god. Are you okay? Did they leave? Did they hurt you?” She questioned rapidly.

“ _No, baby girl. So far, I’m okay. They’re not parked out front anymore and they didn’t approach me after my shift last night. I think we’re in the clear.”_ Donna sounded relieved.

Felicity let out a breath. She wasn’t so sure they were in the clear forever but at least she had more time to find her father.

“That’s good. Really good. Maybe they’ll leave you alone now.” Felicity said hopefully.

“ _Yeah, maybe so.”_ Her mom didn’t sound convinced.

Felicity wanted to tell her so badly that she was working on a plan to find her father, but she didn’t want to stress her mom out anymore than she already was.

“I hate to do this, but I need to get back to work… Please call me if you need me, and check in.”

_“Okay baby. I’m gonna try to get some sleep now. If you don’t hear from me that’s probably why. I love you so much, Felicity.”_

“I love you too, mom.” Felicity said, saying goodbye then hung up the phone.

Part of the weight that had been sitting on her chest lifted, but it was just as quickly replaced by paranoia.

Felicity doubted the Bratva would leave her mom alone, not if they wanted Noah back badly enough. They may even come after her next.

A chill shot down her spine.

No. She couldn’t think like that or else she wouldn’t be able to focus.

Felicity drank down the rest of her coffee then got to work hacking into Queen Consolidated.

**

_Queen Consolidated, Starling City: Later that Tuesday, 2012_

“ _It is done, Kapitan. We are bringing the woman back to you.”_ Andrei told him over the phone.

“ _Good. No one saw you take her correct? And she is unharmed?”_ Oliver asked, his voice speaking the Russian harshly.

“ _No one saw us, Kapitan. The woman is unhurt just like you instructed. The pilot says we will land and then be at the Manor in two and a half hours, sir.”_

 _“You’ve done well, Andrei.”_ Oliver said, praising the young member of the Brotherhood.

Andrei thanked him, and Oliver hung up the phone without a goodbye.

Andrei showed promise. He was the second son of a Capitan in Russia, and he was sent here in order to serve under Oliver while his brother trained to take over for their father. While gaining a leadership role like a Capitan wasn’t exactly passed down from father to son, it was expected that the eldest son under a Capitan would do what he must to eventually take the position from his father. They still had to undergo all the tests and initiations to gain such an esteemed position. A second son would never reach that high unless the first born was killed or if the first born was a girl.

The Bratva didn’t take female members and they were sexist in their belief system. Wives in the Brotherhood were expected to take no prominent role in the business of their husbands, only stay at home and have children that would eventually join the Brotherhood as well.

It was antiquated and Oliver thought it was ridiculous in this day and age, but he never planned on getting married or having children, so it was of little consequence to him.

“You have that look on your face.” John commented from the doorway of Oliver’s office.

“What look?”

“The one where you made a hard call and now have to brood over it for the next week.” Dig said seriously, but his eyes were teasing.

Oliver glared at him. “You do realize you’re my second in command? I outrank you, and yet you still chose to talk to your superior that way.”

He was mostly kidding, and Dig knew that. He needed someone like John who didn’t pull his punches, or else he be surrounded by yes men.

Dig let out a sigh like Oliver was being difficult. “I know. That’s the exact reason I’m your second, because I talk to you this way.”

Oliver didn’t deny it. “As long as you don’t do it front of the others, I don’t care.”

“So, what call did you make that has you looking this way?” John asked, all trace of lightness from earlier gone.

“I’m having them bring Donna Smoak to the Queen Manor. She’s going to be our guest for awhile.” His voice was smooth and calm, as if he had invited Mrs. Smoak over instead of kidnapped her.

“I see.” Dig said, and Oliver could hear a slight tone of disapproval.

“It had to be done, John. You know I don’t hurt women or children.” He felt the need to defend his decision, and mentally cursed himself for it.

He was a Captain now. His word was law, his commands were to be followed without question. He shouldn’t have to explain himself.

But John Diggle had spent the past few years trying to make sure that Oliver kept at least a portion of soul. It was admirable, but pointless in Oliver’s eyes. He had long ago succumbed to the darkness inside himself and he had come to terms with it.

“I know you don’t.” Dig said, “But not everyone in this organization can say the same.”

“She’ll be at the mansion in one of the guest rooms guarded by men I’ve chosen myself. She’ll be fine.” Oliver stated firmly, making it clear he no longer wanted to discuss it.

John nodded, but he didn’t look pleased.

**

_Palmer Tech, New York City: Tuesday night, 2012_

Felicity was beyond frustrated.

The Queen Consolidated firewall was nearly impenetrable. She’d been at it for hours, she hadn’t even eaten, but every time she’d manage to wiggle her way through, she’d be stopped.

The code she was up against was absolutely beautiful and ingenious.

It was also telling.

While she hadn’t been able to hack into the QC system (yet) she now was even more certain that it’s CEO was the Bratva Captain, because the masterful code protecting it had to be her fathers. She’d never seen anything like it. Felicity had no other explanation as why it was so hard to hack into, unless it came from him. Obviously, Noah must’ve worked on cyber security for them among whatever the other illegal things he did.

Felicity wasn’t overexaggerating his skill, or her own.

She had IQ of 170.

No one had ever even come close to her ability with computers, not even when she was a ‘hacktivist’ in college.

Felicity knew that if she had more time that she could probably break through the firewall, but time was something she didn’t have the luxury of. She wanted to scream, and she also really wanted to cry.

Or maybe both at the same time.

She felt like a failure.

Her mom was counting on her, even if she didn’t know what Felicity was doing, and she wasn’t able to the one thing she was supposed to be the best at. She felt hot tears start to prick at her eyes and her throat was tight, signaling she was about to cry.

Felicity needed a break and she wanted to talk to her mom. She picked up her phone, dialing her number quickly. Felicity held it to her ear as it rang and rang, then went to voicemail. Holding back her panic, she checked the time. It was six pm here so it would only be three pm in Vegas. There’s no way her mom was at work yet.

Maybe she was just sleeping?

Felicity tried calling four more times, but there was still no answer. She sent her a text, asking her to check in and call her.

When she didn’t receive any texts or calls within the next thirty minutes, she decided to track the GPS in her mom’s phone.

It was still in Vegas, in their old tiny apartment. So, her mom was home, but not answering.

Oh god, what if she couldn’t answer. What if those men went in and hurt her?

Felicity’s breath started coming out in strangled gasps, and she was close to hyperventilating. Her tears finally fell, streaming down her face and tracking mascara down her cheeks. She tried calling six more times and her mom still didn’t answer.

Her stomach was in knots and she knew if she had eaten, she’d probably be throwing it all up right now. For a moment, Felicity considered calling the building super and having them check on her mom, but she was terrified of what they might find, and she didn’t want to put someone else in a dangerous position.

With shaky fingers, she hacked into the security camera’s surrounding her mom’s apartment building. Some of them weren’t working, due the building being in not so great part of Vegas, but she found one that faced the entrance of the complex. It was placed in a way that it recorded all the cars that came and went. Felicity played the footage from the past few hours.

At around one in the afternoon, a dark SUV with heavily tinted windows entered the complex. Almost forty-five minutes later, it left again. The windows were so dark she couldn’t see anyone in it, but she had a bad feeling about it.

She got the license plate as it was leaving, the plates were out of Nevada. Felicity ran the plate number through the Nevada DMV. It came back registered to a rental company called _Luxury Transportation._

Felicity gasped. She had seen that company name before.

As fast as she could, she pulled up her research on Queen Consolidated. She scrolled to where she had listed all the companies underneath the QC banner, _Luxury Transportation_ was one of them.

Felicity had to take deep breaths as the reality of that hit her directly in the chest.

She now knew, without a doubt, that Oliver Queen was ‘the Beast.’

The car company proved it. Felicity followed the dark SUV through the Vegas traffic on every camera she could hack into.

She didn’t dare let herself think of what would happen when it reached the end of its journey.

Finally, it pulled off the highway and stopped at a private airstrip. She quickly hacked into the cameras on the property, beyond grateful that its encryption was simple.

Well, simple for her. Other people might have had a tough time with it.

There was single plane on the run way, a small passenger plane. Her heart leapt. Passenger plane was a good sign.

Bad guys didn’t take dead people on planes, they took prisoners on planes.

It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than her mother being dead.

The passenger door opened, and a man stepped out. Felicity could only make out that he was tall and had brown hair. He turned his head, the cameras catching his face as he searched the area around him. Once he was done, he opened the door to the back seat and reached an arm inside pulling out a woman with bright blonde hair, a tight bright pink track suit, and white wedges.

Donna Smoak.

“Oh, mom.” Felicity cried, unable to stop a sob from escaping her throat.

She looked terrified as he kept a firm grip on her arm and led her towards the plane. The man who was in the driver’s seat stepped out next, he was slightly shorter than the other man and he was blonde instead of brunette. He followed after her mother and the man who still held onto her arm. They all boarded the plane, and it took off shortly afterwards. Felicity checked the time stamp on the footage, 2:40 pm.

She knew exactly where they went.

Felicity searched ATF records next for all planes that had landed in Starling city in the past hour, the flight would’ve only taken around two hours so it should be in Starling already.

Just as she thought, the plane landed twenty minutes ago at yet another private airstrip, this one used by QC executives. Felicity used the same process from before, hacking into the security cameras and any others she could find as her mother was loaded into yet another dark SUV and driven away.

She followed the car as far as could, before losing it as it entered the outskirts of Starling. It was a wooded area so there were no security cameras to hack. Felicity borrowed another Palmer Tech satellite and the images showed the only house was a giant castle-like mansion sitting in the middle of acres of land.

The Queen Mansion to be exact.

“Fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments or kudos you guys would like to leave behind would be wonderful :) also follow me on twitter! @ more0rlessjess


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Don't you know the Devil wears a suit and tie?" - The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie by Colter Wall

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: Nighttime, 2012_

Oliver sat at the desk in his study, absentmindedly swirling the scotch around in the glass in his hand. He looked the over documents about the newest budget proposals for the different departments at Queen Consolidated. It was dull, but necessary work. He had to focus on the legal aspect of his family business just as well as the illegal.

A knock on the door interrupted him.

“ _Kapitan, we have the woman. You wanted us to bring her to you, sir.”_ Andrei called out, his Russian muffled through the heavy wooden door.

“ _Enter.”_ He answered.

The door opened and Andrei stepped into the room, a woman in a hot pink track suit embroidered with rhinestones came in next, followed by Lev, a low-ranking member of the Brotherhood. He observed Donna Smoak. He had seen her picture before, but he was a bit surprised at her appearance. Oliver wasn’t expecting her to look younger than her forty years or be dressed in tight, sparkly hot pink clothes.

Oliver just couldn’t picture the woman in front him with her big, curled blonde hair, face full of make up and outfit decorated with rhinestones to be the ex-wife of Noah Kuttler, or the mother of a genius who graduated MIT top of her class at 19. The Calculator was a serious man, keeping to himself most of the time, his intelligence sometimes making him come off as arrogant and condescending. He didn’t see how Donna Smoak and Noah Kuttler ended up together.

“Leave us.” Oliver spoke in English, ordering the men out.

The both nodded respectively before leaving the room.

“Would you like a drink, Ms. Smoak? Or should I say Mrs. Kuttler?” Oliver asked, taking a sip of his scotch.

“No thank you, Mr. Queen. And it’s Smoak. I’m not a Kuttler. What I’d like to know is why I was brought here.” Donna said, her voice held a slight tremble, but she held her chin high.

Brave, he thought.

“I see you know who I am.” Oliver responded, ignoring her question.

She nodded but didn’t speak. He could see a shine of tears in her eyes, from fear he guessed. A stab of guilt hit him. Oliver let out a sigh, placing his nearly empty glass of scotch on his desk and rested his forearms against it, interlocking his fingers.

“Have a seat.” He ordered with a nod to the chair in front of his desk.

Donna hesitated before doing as he asked.

“Why am I here?” She asked again, sounding more nervous than she had a moment ago.

“Your ex-husband stole from me and then ran like a _trus_.” Oliver said, the Russian word for coward leaving his mouth with distaste. “I don’t take that lightly. He has knowledge of my business and that makes him dangerous to me, and to my family. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect the family I have remaining. Do you understand me, Ms. Smoak?” His voice was calm but held a deadly edge to it.

She swallowed and raised a shaking hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

“I understand. I feel the same way about my baby girl. But I also haven’t spoken to Noah in years, I don’t know where he went, and I don’t know any of the secrets of your organization.” Donna spoke quickly, her tone borderline pleading with him to believe her.

He studied her for a moment. “I believe you,” She looked relieved before he continued, “But that doesn’t matter now. I know he used to send you and your daughter money, money that belonged to me, and that means his debt is yours as well.”

She flinched as he mentioned her daughter and looked at him imploringly. “I’m sorry, I knew the money was dirty, but you have to understand, I had to protect _my_ family too. But I swear to you, I only used it for my little girl. I needed her to make it out of Vegas before she ended up like me. I can… I can try and pay it all back. It’ll take some time, but I’ll do it.”

Oliver closed his eyes briefly, before opening them and leveling her with a hard look. “We are past that. You knew what you were doing. For the time being, you’ll stay here while we search for your ex-husband. He’ll realize you’re here eventually, and when he does, he’ll reach out.”

Donna gasped and a tear slid down her face. “You can’t know that! I have a life to get back too and my daughter will know something’s happened to me. She’s going to be terrified. And Noah wont care that I’m here! If he even finds out, he’s not going to come running!” Her voice was loud, and he silenced her with a glare.

“I do know that. I have a hard time believing a man who calls himself the Calculator and sends his family money over a period of years isn’t keeping tabs on them as well.” Oliver paused, then said, “I hope for both you and your daughter’s sake he realizes it quickly.”

** 

_Palmer Tech, New York City: Near midnight, 2012_

It was currently almost midnight and Felicity was still in her office staring at her computer screen with a mix of determination, terror and disbelief.

While it wasn’t the first time she’d stayed so late to work, it was the first time she stayed that long and not done any work at all. She knew the rest of the floor was empty, everyone else had gone home for the night. Curtis had popped by her office before he left asking if she was okay or wanted to grab dinner, she said she was fine, and she wasn’t hungry.

Only one of those things were true, and it wasn’t the first part.

He didn’t seem convinced at her half lie, but he let it drop and told her to call him if she needed help with what she was working on.

Obviously, she couldn’t, and wouldn’t, do that. She’d never risk Curtis’s safety, he had a husband to go home too.

She had no one.

No one except her mother, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to do whatever was in her power to help her.

Hence the truly terrible plan Felicity had come up with.

She had emailed HR and her departments supervisor and told both she had a family emergency and needed to take the rest of the week off. Felicity hadn’t received an email back approving it yet, but she had sent the it after hours and she wasn’t going to be at work tomorrow regardless of if the time off was approved or denied.

She had more important things to do.

Like fly to Starling City and ask Oliver Queen to release her mother in exchange for her technical assistance when it came to his businesses, the legal and illegal kind.

And if that didn’t work, she was going to use some good old fashioned Mutually Assured Destruction and send all of her research on Oliver Queen, the Bratva and her mother’s kidnapping to every Federal Agency in the U.S. Government.

What she found wasn’t solid proof, but it was enough to at least put Oliver Queen on their radar.

Obviously, it’d implicate herself with all the illegal hacking, even after covering her tracks, because the Fed’s would realize that Donna Smoak had a tech genius daughter, but she was willing to do whatever it took.

Felicity knew it was beyond dumb, and she was probably going to end up in a shallow grave, and if she got lucky, prison instead.

At least in both those scenarios (death or jail) she wouldn’t have use for her Palmer Tech job anymore, so it didn’t really matter if they didn’t approve her time off.

That was a positive.

Right?

But Felicity couldn’t just sit and do nothing.

Her facial recognition program still hadn’t returned any hits back on her father, and after trying (and failing) to hack into QC in time to at least get some more solid proof she could use as protection-slash-blackmail, she was left no other options.

Her father, not that he even deserved that title, left her no choice. She didn’t have enough time to come up with anything else. Her mother’s life was at stake.

Felicity had no idea what condition her mother was in now, she had seemed fine getting off the plane in Starling but that was hours ago, and she had no other video footage to go of off. The Queen Mansion had its own security system, but it was offline, because of course it was, and it could only be hacked on site.

She had a feeling Noah had suggested that which made her even angrier.

Felicity thought she’d be able to get around it by using a Palmer Tech satellite, but all she was able to make out were body heat signatures that showed the mansion was more of a fortress than she initially thought. It was crawling with armed guards and people.

So, she had said screw it, knowing she couldn’t risk wasting more time, bought a plane ticket and rented a cheap hotel room in Starling.

Felicity took a deep breath and emailed the confirmation numbers for both her flight and room to herself.

“I’m really doing this, oh my god.” Felicity said to herself, jumping at the volume of her voice in her silent office.

“Felicity? You’re still here?” Ray Palmer called through the closed door of her office.

The same door she hadn’t thought to lock back after Curtis left. She mentally cursed. Of course, of all times, the universe was going to make her deal with him right now.

She was a good frakking person so why did the universe hate her?

Felicity didn’t respond to Ray, instead downloading all the research she had done and her search programs onto a flash drive. She may have also created a back door into Palmer Techs firewall that’d let her get access to all their servers and satellites whenever, or wherever, she wanted.

Oops.

Ray opened her office door and came inside just as she pulled out the drive and stuck it in her purse.

“Why are you here so late? Working on something that’ll make us richer?” Ray asked, a too-wide grin on his face and waggle of his eyebrows.

Felicity grimaced at his use of the word ‘us’, not bothering to hide it because there was no, and never would be, a ‘them.’

“Nope, just stealing company property.” She deadpanned.

He laughed, moving closer to her desk, “I forgot how funny you are. It’s a rare quality in a woman, but one I appreciate.”

Felicity took a deep breath in through her nose to calm herself down, so she didn’t snap at him.

Ignoring the misogyny of his comment, she shut down her computers, grabbing her purse and standing from her seat.

“I’m gonna head home. I didn’t even realize how late it was.” Felicity lied, moving around where Ray stood in the middle of her office.

She was almost at the door when he grabbed her elbow lightly.

“Felicity, I know it’s late but maybe we can head up to my office for a nightcap? I have some really great twenty-year-old scotch. Almost as old as you are.” He smiled down at her, his eyes flicking past her face and then down to her chest where her dress had a cut out.

She pulled her arm from his grip, placing her purse in the space between them.

“No. I should really head home, I need to pack before my flight.” Felicity pressed her lips together, she didn’t mean to tell him about the flight, but her mouth said it before she could stop it.

He frowned, “Where are you going?”

“Family emergency back home,” She said, giving him the same excuse that she used in her email.

“Oh no,” Ray tried to take another step closer to reach out and touch her, but she stepped back. A look of irritation flashed across his face before he covered it up. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll make sure you have all the time off you need. If you need someone to talk too or shoulder to lean on, I have some pretty broad ones.” He shot her wink then flexed his arms.

Beyond aggravated, she gave him a fake smile hoping it didn’t show. If being fake nice to him got her more time off, she’d take it. Not too mention the fact that he was still her boss right now. She wasn’t dead or in prison just yet.

“Thanks, Ray. I’ll keep that in mind. But I really have to go now.” Before he could respond, she turned on her heel and headed to the elevator.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow her. Felicity got all the way back to her apartment before she realized she never asked Ray what he was doing there so late, and on her floor. She had an uncomfortable feeling that she didn’t want to know the answer. Shaking her head, Felicity changed out of her work clothes, putting on her MIT sweatshirt, black leggings and flats that had panda faces on them.

Usually those were enough to make her smile, but not today.

Felicity packed her duffle bag next, barely even looking at what she was putting in it. She grabbed everything she’d need from her bathroom and threw it in next. She zipped it up, then pulled out a back pack from her closet. She filled it with her tablet, laptop, chargers and any other tech she may need, then she tossed her wallet in at the last second before closing it. She pulled the back-pack straps over one of her shoulders and slung the heavy duffle over the other. With one last look at her little apartment, Felicity walked out the door, locked it and headed to the street to hail a cab.

**

_Starling City Airport: A few hours later_

It was nearly four in the morning when her plane landed, the three-hour time difference giving her a bit of jet lag after the long flight. Felicity stepped off the plane, bags in hand and went through her gate. The flight had felt so long and even though she’d managed to sleep, it wasn’t restful, and she was still exhausted. Her stomach was threatening to expel the crappy airport sandwich she had eaten on the plane.

All in all, she wasn’t doing that great.

She considered going to her hotel and trying to squeeze in a couple more hours of rest, before irrevocably changing her life forever, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing what was going on with her mom.

However, Felicity didn’t want to walk into the lion’s, or well “the Beast’s”, den blind. But she didn’t see any other way, their security system was unhackable unless she was on site and she didn’t think she’d be able to get close enough without being caught by one of the guards she saw on the satellite imaging.

She sat down in one of the hard airport chairs and unlocked her tablet. She pulled up the borrowed Palmer Tech satellite feed and searched for the Queen mansion. Despite it being the middle of the night, there was just as many heat signatures she assumed were the guards walking around the perimeter and inside the mansion itself.

There was no way she could get close enough to hack into their system undetected. With the way things were going, she might as well just march up to the gates and demand to see Oliver Queen.

“No, Felicity. Knocking on a mob bosses’ door and demanding a meeting is a bad idea.” She mumbled to herself.

Then again, everything about her situation was bad idea so she might as well really commit to it.

“What?” The man who she didn’t even realize was sitting beside her asked. She must’ve spoken out loud.

Felicity startled, she hadn’t even seen him there. She quickly locked her tablet, causing the screen to go dark.

“Oh, uhm. Nothing. Just talking to myself.” She said quickly.

He gave her a strange look but didn’t say anything. She stood abruptly, throwing her duffle and backpack over her shoulders and hugging her tablet to her chest. Hurriedly, she made her way to the rental car service desk to get a car. Felicity went through the process easily and was handed the keys to a red mini cooper.

She would’ve preferred something less conspicuous, but it was all they had on short notice.

With a sigh, she tossed her duffle bag into the tiny trunk, deciding to keep her back pack up front since it held all of her important tech. She sat in the parked car and drummed her fingers against the wheel, thinking about her next move.

Felicity was absolutely terrified to show up to his house.

She didn’t know if the guards would even let her in to see him. And if they did, what if they just threw her in the dungeon or something. She thought that was a pretty plausible outcome seeing as the Queen mansion was more of castle than actual house.

Felicity took out her tablet again and unlocked it. She looked through her research on Oliver Queen. She was able to find his private cell phone number earlier by hacking into his body guards cell phone records. His cell phone provider was seriously lacking in their cyber security, luckily for her.

Calling him ahead of time might be her best bet. It’d ruin any surprise element she had but she needed to know what she was going to walk into. The last thing she wanted was to be turned around at the gates, or something worse like get murdered by the Russian mobster gate guards. She pulled up the satellite footage again so she could watch it as she called. With a deep breath, she dialed his number.

He answered after the fourth ring, his voice almost a growl as it came through the speaker. “Who is this, and how did you get this number?”

She gulped. “My name is Felicity Smoak. It doesn’t matter how I got your number, what matters is that you have my mother. I have some information about my father you’ll want to hear, but only if we meet in person and I can see that my mom is okay.”

It was a partial lie, all she knew about her father was his new alias, but she also wasn’t going to show all of her cards right away. He might consider the information she did know as enough to let her mom go, and she didn’t want to offer herself up if he’d settle for less.

The line was silent and then, “You’re in Starling City I presume?”

“Yes.” Felicity answered, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Come to the Queen mansion then. I’ll be expecting you.” His tone was dark and gritty as he spoke, without waiting for her to respond, he hung up the phone.

Felicity watched her tablet as the heat signatures on the screen exploded into motion. More guards were rushed to the gates and around the perimeter, while inside the mansion all she could see were flashes of light as people were moving around.

He obviously assumed she was some kind of threat and it made her extremely nervous because she wasn’t and now, she wished she was.

Felicity was in way over her head here.

She had no way to defend herself if it came down to it so she was literally just going to have to hope for the best.

Felicity started the car and made it to the mansion without hassle. It looked even more foreboding in person than in did in the pictures. It was made of grey stone, giving it a cold, harsh aura. It was like it was screaming ‘turn back now.’

Surprisingly, she was waved through the gates without an issue. As she drove up the long drive way, Felicity tried to calm herself down. Her palms were clammy, her stomach was threatening to expel the sandwich she ate, and her heart was in her throat. She could feel the thrum of her pulse and hear it in her ears.

Finally, she reached the end of the driveway where it stopped at the front of the house, and hopefully not the end of her short life. She put the car in park. She sat there a moment, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly when a sharp knock on her window broke her out of her unmoving state. Felicity looked through to see the same large man in the picture she found of Oliver Queen, his bodyguard John Diggle. He gave her an easy smile and gestured for her to get out of the car.

With a shaking hand, she opened the door slowly and climbed out. Mr. Diggle stood about a foot away, his stance relaxed and a calm smile on his face.

“Hello, Ms. Smoak. My name is John Diggle, but you can call me Diggle or Dig.” He greeted, then held out his hand for her to shake, “Nice to meet you.”

Felicity hesitated before shaking his hand. She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen when she arrived, but it wasn’t this.

“Uh, Felicity Smoak. Which you already knew since you just called me by name and because you were expecting me. I’d say nice to meet you back but that would be a lie and I’m bad at lying. Not that I’m saying you’re not a nice person, because I don’t know you, but this just isn’t the best situation to be in if you know my situation. I didn’t mean to insult you or anything. I’m sure you’re very nice. Super nice, in fact.” She pressed her lips together to force herself to stop talking, “I’m shutting up now.”

Felicity just hoped she didn’t hurt his feelings because his biceps were literally the size of bowling balls and could crush her easily. He surprised her by letting out a short laugh.

“You didn’t insult me. I get it. How about I show you to Mr. Queens study and you both can talk in there.” Diggle suggested, gesturing to the front doors of the mansion. He must have seen the look on her face because he added quickly, “Don’t worry, his bark is worse than his bite.”

She just nodded, having a hard time believing a man nicknamed ‘the Beast’ didn’t earn it, and went to grab her back pack and tablet from her car, but he stopped her.

“Sorry, Ms. Smoak, I can’t let you bring in any tech or bags. It all stays out here, and I’ll need your phone as well.” He said apologetically, motioning for her to hand him her phone.

Felicity begrudgingly did as he asked, grateful that they weren’t doing a pat down search on her. She had stuffed the flash drive that had all her research on Oliver Queen on it inside her bra for safe keeping. Then again, even if they did find it, they’d never be able to break the encryption on it or her tablet, laptop and phone.

So, she wasn’t worried about leaving those behind, even if it being without her tech made her feel extremely vulnerable.

He led her up the front steps and past the guards standing near the door who eyed her suspiciously. She ignored them and followed Diggle inside, and wow. If she thought the outside looked like a castle, the inside was even more grand.

It was decorated in warm browns and reds, with ornate carvings in the crown molding of the ceiling and doorframe. The floors were shiny hardwood and covered in richly embroidered rugs that covered the foyer. Ahead of her were two grand wooden staircases, one branching to the left and the other to the right. She could see even more detailing etched into the railings.

Oliver Queen even had a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the kind that she’d only seen in Vegas casinos. But for some reason, instead of looking gaudy, it just added to the atmosphere and screamed old money.

She hadn’t noticed she paused in the entrance way, gawking at the interior until Diggle cleared his throat and moved towards the staircase on the left.

“This way, Ms. Smoak.” He called out, a tinge of amusement in his voice.

“Call me Felicity,” She said suddenly.

Maybe it was strange to tell a (likely) member of the Russian mob to call her by her first name, but he had been nothing but kind to her so far. At this point though, she was nearly certain he was a part of the organization as well. He nodded at her, a small smile turning up his lips. They climbed the steps in silence, and the closer they got to the study the faster her heart started beating. She wondered if Diggle heard it, because it was all she could hear.

Diggle stopped in front of a solid dark wooden door and raised his hand to knock. But before he did, he turned to her, giving her an encouraging look.

“He’s stubborn, but not unreasonable. He comes off harsh but he’s not a bad man.” He whispered, then knocked on the door.

She appreciated the advice and the warning, but it didn’t alleviate her nerves.

“Come in,” A deep voice came reverberated through the solid wood, it was so deep and rough it almost seemed like a growl.

Great. 

Diggle opened it and stepped inside, holding the door open for her and she walked in behind him. As soon as she was inside, he shut the door but stayed in the room.

She was grateful for that. Felicity didn’t want to be alone with a Captain of the Bratva.

Felicity took a deep breath and lifted her chin to meet his gaze. She refused to show how scared she was. She locked eyes with him, they were blue, like her own, but his were a deep, darker blue. Like the ocean during a raging storm.

He was even more gorgeous in person. His brown hair was slightly ruffled, and the scruff covering his strong jaw was just as attractive as in the pictures. He had broad shoulders that filled out the white dress shirt he was wearing, the first few buttons were undone and revealing the top of his tanned chest. On the left side of his chest, nearest to his heart, she could see the slightest bit of black ink poking out from underneath the white fabric. His sleeves were rolled up over his forearms and even from the distance she was at, she saw a few scars littering the skin there.

Felicity saw him look her up and down, just as she did to him, as if they were evaluating each other as potential threats. When he got to her panda covered shoes, she thought she saw a ghost of a smile pass over his face, but it fled before she knew for sure.

Felicity stood straighter, squaring her shoulders and glaring at him.

She was a threat. Panda shoes and all.

Maybe not physically, but digitally? She could, and would, destroy his whole world if she needed too.

That thought gave her enough courage to speak up.

“Mr. Queen,” Felicity began, “I know you’re a Captain of the Bratva, and I also know you have my mother hostage. I have video evidence of her being abducted by your goons, and I can link it back to _you_ and your company _._ I want to see her right now, and make sure she’s safe. Let her go, and I’ll give you all the information I discovered on Noah Kuttler.” She demanded, proud that her voice came out steady and even.

He leaned back in his desk chair, raising an eyebrow at her. A flash of something she couldn’t quite read entered his eyes before disappearing just as quickly.

“Your mother is fine.” Was all he said.

“I want to see her.” She tried again, stepping closer to his desk.

“Only after you tell me what you have on your father.” He replied, his voice low but not the growl it had been.

Felicity scoffed. “I thought you were a business man too? What incentive do I have to tell you if I don’t even know if my mother is alive?”

“Your father stole from my business, and then disappeared knowing things about my organization he shouldn’t. Your mother knowingly spent the money he took, and now she has to deal with the consequences. I gave you my word that she’s fine and if you do as I say, she’ll continue to stay that way. I don’t think you knew anything about what they did, which is why I was gracious enough to allow you into my home and grant you this meeting. So, the only incentive you need, Ms. Smoak, is that I have your mother and while she’s okay now, that can change at any moment.” He threatened, so deeply that it seemed to rumble from his chest.

Tears welled in her eyes that she tried to blink away. She refused to cry in front of this monster.

“Be careful who you threaten, Mr. Queen. I didn’t come in here without any guarantee of my safety, or my mothers. Your word means nothing to me. I want to see my mother immediately, or in about,” She glanced at the clock above his head, “Two hours every federal agency in the United States government is going to get sent a detailed email about all the shocking connections between Oliver Queen, Queen Consolidated, the Bratva and my mother’s disappearance. Don’t worry, I included everything about that little club in the Glades you own too. Verdant, I believe its called.” Felicity smiled mockingly, even as her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest.

He glared at her so fiercely that she almost wanted to lower her eyes, it was absolutely terrifying, but she held her gaze, staring back just as intensely. He broke first, looking over her shoulder to Diggle.

Mentally, she fist pumped.

He nodded to the other man, and Felicity heard the door open and shut behind her. Her stomach turned.

Why did he send Diggle out?

Oh god.

She was so dumb.

He was going to kill her.

He didn’t speak in the moments that followed and neither did she. But Felicity didn’t meet his eyes again, instead shifting her eyes around the office. She could feel his stare burning into her face, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him while they were alone in the silence.

Felicity knew that if she did, she might actually start crying because she was literally terrified, and he was one intimidating man. She understood now, at least in part, while they called him the Beast. His voice was more of an animalistic growl than it was human, and he radiated an energy that commanded attention. It was almost primal, instinctual, and she could only describe it as the feeling of knowing he was the top of the food chain, he was a predator and whoever he turned those intense eyes onto was the prey.

Diggle finally returned, and Felicity heard the familiar heavy clunk of the heels that her mother was always wearing against the ground. No matter the circumstances, Donna Smoak would still rock a pair of heels and it was remarkably reassuring to Felicity. She spun around to see a flash of blonde hair and fluorescent pink before the scent of her mother’s perfume engulfed her as Donna threw her arms around Felicity in a tight embrace.

Felicity barely managed to keep her tears at bay as she whispered, “Are you okay, Mom?”

Her mother nodded against her shoulder, gripping her harder. “I told you to stay away from this, Felicity Megan Smoak. You’re putting yourself in too much danger, please baby girl, go home.” Her mother begged quietly in her ear.

“I’ve never listened to you before, so why start now?” She joked, her voice thick with emotion. Felicity pulled back from her mother, but still kept a firm hold on her hand.

She looked to the Bratva Captain, but his face was emotionless. A blank mask, besides the firm press of his lips together. Either he didn’t care, or he was really good at hiding what he felt.

“As I said, your mother is fine. Now tell me what you found on your father.” He said, sounding impatient.

Felicity nodded at him, “I don’t know where he is now, he’s good at covering his tracks. As in, he deleted his entire digital existence. But I have multiple programs, including facial recognition running to find him. His new alias is Hank Roulett. He’s withdrawn all the money from all of his known accounts and must be paying in cash to stay under the radar. Eventually, he’ll slip up and I’ll catch him. Then he’s all yours.” She didn’t bother trying to keep the bitterness from her tone.

Her father was the one who put them in this situation, and she didn’t feel guilty about handing him over.

Nothing showed on his face at her revelation, but he seemed pleased when he spoke.

“I’m impressed, Ms. Smoak. You’ve managed to find out more in the span of hours than we have in days. Then again, I’d expect nothing less from the daughter of a man who calls himself the Calculator.” He drawled lazily, but his eyes were sharp as he observed her.

Felicity flinched, she didn’t want to be Noah’s daughter. He was basically a super villain.

“Yeah, well the only thing he gave me besides abandonment issues was a love of computers. So, guess I should be grateful for that.” She said sarcastically, and she could of sworn she heard Diggle disguise a laugh behind her.

She felt her mother turn to stare at her, but Felicity ignored it.

“I told you everything I know, Mr. Queen. Let me and my mother go, and as soon as I find him, I’ll let you know.” Felicity bargained, praying he’d accept without her needing to use Plan B.

Aka the really dumb idea.

“No.” He said, it was firm and unyielding.

Her heart stuttered in her chest. “What? Why not? I know I can I find him, it’ll just take a little more time. I’m sure you know where I live and you know where my mom lives, so there’s no way for us to run without you knowing. I can keep searching and tell you anything I find. Just let us both go home.”

“You’re smarter than that, Felicity,” He said her name in a way that no one ever had, and it made butterflies float in her stomach and irritation flood her veins as she heard the patronizing tone in there as well. “Think about it rationally. You mentioned incentives earlier. What incentive do I have to let your mother go when she’s a valuable asset in catching your father? I know Noah Kuttler, and I know he’s the best at what he does. It’s going to take even you, a very long time to find him. I’m just giving him some encouragement to return by keeping her as my guest.”

Felicity felt acid rise into her throat, and she took a deep breath before she irrevocably changed her life forever. Her mother must have sensed something was off with her and gripped her hand tightly to discourage her from speaking.

“It’s okay baby, I’ll be fine. I’m tough.” Donna told her quietly, a note of pleading in her voice to keep her mouth shut.

Felicity gave her a quick smile that told her mother everything she needed to know. Tears welled up in Donna’s eyes and she looked like she was about to physically stop Felicity from talking if she needed too. But Felicity was quicker.

“You’re right,” Felicity agreed, meeting his gaze with determination burning in her eyes. “And what better incentive than his daughter? Let my mom go and I’ll take her place.” Donna gasped at that and shook her head no, but Felicity ignored her. “Not only do you have his own flesh and blood, but you can also use my computer skills in the same way he did for the Bratva. I’ll work off whatever money he stole, or stay until I find him. Whatever comes first.”

Oliver stared at her, a reluctance shining in gaze like he was about to reject the offer when he closed his eyes briefly before opening them again. When he did, they were filled with a cold hardness which sent a shiver down her spine.

“You would take her place?” He asked. “And work for me?”

“Yes.”

“Give me your word that you will stay as long as I deem necessary to fulfill the debt you owe. You won’t be able to leave Starling until then, unless your father is found and dealt with before that point.” His words were nothing short of a command as they rumbled from his chest.

Felicity didn’t look away or cower from the man they called the Beast, and even though she hated to be ordered to do anything, she did as he asked.

“I give you my word.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments or kudos you guys would like to leave behind would be wonderful :) also follow me on twitter! @ more0rlessjess


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, the devil's inside, You opened the door, You gave him a ride" - My Eyes by the Lumineers

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: Three hours later_

It had been a few hours since she made a deal with the devil, or well Beast, and that time had gone by in a blur. Immediately afterwards, her mom had yelled at Felicity in her Loud Voice then cried and told her she wouldn’t let her take her place. But Felicity wouldn’t hear a word of it, she told her she loved her and then Donna Smoak was being escorted away by some Russian goon. Diggle had been her own personal escort after being given orders by Oliver, or was it Mr. Queen?

She didn’t even know how to refer to him in her own head because he was technically her boss and semi-captor.

Diggle had taken her to an unoccupied guest room where he had told her she’d be staying from now on. Felicity had been quiet the whole time, barely sparing a glance at the room that was larger than her own NYC apartment.

She still didn’t have access to her phone or any tech or her belongings, and all she wanted was something familiar. Diggle had given her a sympathetic look and let her know that someone would bring up her suitcase from her car in a bit. Felicity hadn’t answered him, instead just sitting on the unfamiliar bed in an even more unfamiliar place as she internally freaked out about the decision she had made and it was where she still sat now.

It wasn’t that she regretted her decision, she would do anything to protect her mother, but it was hitting her how life altering it was going to be.

She would have to quit her job, somehow find a way to break her lease and sell her apartment, not too mention all of her personal possessions she had left behind. Felicity’s everything was in New York, her friends, her job, her life and she was freaking out about it.

Absentmindedly, Felicity ran her hands across her face wiping away the hot tears that had fallen. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. Suddenly, she was struck with a bone deep exhaustion. It was a combination of the heaviness of her emotions and not sleeping much over the past couple days. Despite it being mid-morning at this point, she wanted to do nothing but sleep. On tired feet she stumbled her way to the door, sliding the lock in place. While she didn’t know if it would even matter, she had no idea if they would have a key or even try and come in, but she needed at least a sense of security. After testing the handle to make sure it didn’t move, she made her way back to the very large bed. 

As she kicked off her shoes, Felicity wished she had a change of clothes and her toiletries so she could brush her teeth but no one had brought up her suitcase yet. Feeling very alone, and very drained, she fell face first into the fluffy pillows not bothering to bring the duvet cover over herself.

**

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: Around Noon_

Oliver sat at his desk, a tray of food on one side and paperwork from QC on another. He leaned back in his seat, letting out a heavy sigh. After meeting with Felicity, he hadn’t bothered trying to get any rest and decided to work from home instead of going into the office. He hadn’t wanted to deal with anyone there, especially since he wasn’t in the best mood. At the Mansion, no one would bother him unnecessarily except for Diggle or his little sister.

He rubbed his hand down his face, trying to ignore the twisting feeling inside his chest. It was something close to guilt that had stuck with him since she had left his office. Oliver had never wanted to be the one to destroy someone life, especially not someone with the innocence she radiated.

She wore flats with animal faces on them for Christs sake.

But he had had no other choice. The Bratva was at risk, which meant Thea was in harms way too, and he couldn’t let either of those things stand. It wasn’t Felicity Smoak’s fault that her father was a slimy bastard, yet she was the one paying for his mistakes. Oliver understood the position she was in, he had made the same choice once upon time in order to protect his only family.

Oliver sold his soul to the Bratva, and she had sold hers to him.

He told himself he wasn’t going to use it. Use her. He would do what he must for the Bratva, but right now they didn’t need her skills. Anything cyber related was being handled by other contacts, and for now, it was enough. Oliver would hold off as long as could before involving her.

He knew he told her he’d work her to pay off the debts her family owed, but Oliver hadn’t fully meant it. At the moment, her presence was enough and her father was bound to notice. Oliver was counting on it. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. He assumed it was a member of the house staff coming to collect his lunch tray.

“ _Enter_ ,” He called out in Russian as it was usually Raisa who saw to his meals and the older woman preferred to speak in her native tongue.

Raisa entered as he expected, but she was followed by Andrei who had a frown on his face. They both bowed their heads respectfully at him before Andrei spoke.

“We searched the girls belongings and found nothing suspicious, _Kapitan_. But we could not get inside her phone, laptop or tablet.”

Oliver just nodded. He figured as much. She was the daughter of the Calculator after all.

“Very well, return her things to her then. Except for the tech. If she wants to make any calls or texts, it’s to be supervised.” Oliver commanded.

He didn’t feel guilty about it. Oliver couldn’t risk her telling anyone anything she wasn’t supposed too. It was as much to protect himself and his organization, as it was to protect her. If word got out she was loose lipped or trying to move against the Bratva, she’d be in danger and he’d be forced to make a choice he absolutely didn’t want to.

“Yes, _Kapitan._ ” Andrei said, but didn’t leave.

“Is there something else?” Oliver asked, looking between the two. It was Raisa who answered.

“A member of the staff notified me she isn’t opening her door for a lunch tray and it remains locked. I did not know what to do, _Kapitan._ She needs to eat.” She had a look of motherly concern on her face, and Oliver was reminded of her giving him that same look in his youth.

“I’ll handle it, Raisa. Thank you.” He said, standing from his chair in irritation. He was trying to help her as much as he could, and yet she was choosing to be petulant. It grated on his nerves. “Andrei, meet me at her room with her belongings and the key.”

“Yes sir.” He nodded, then left the room.

Oliver made to leave the room, but Raisa stopped him with a gentle grip on his forearm.

“She is young, in a new place with strange faces, _Kapitan._ Show her kindness.”

If it had been anyone else who had spoken to him so frankly, he would have taught them their manners, but it was Raisa and she had known him since he was a boy. So instead, he patted the hand on his arm and left the room without saying a word.

Andrei was waiting for him with her suitcase and key when Oliver reached the guest room she was staying in. Before he knocked on the door, he dismissed Andrei. The last confrontation with her, she hadn’t backed down and talked to him in a way that he couldn’t allow others to see, except for Diggle. It would make him look weak in the eyes of the Bratva to be spoken like that by a woman.

It had equally amused and impressed him that she was able to meet his gaze and threaten him with her chin held high. She was fearless. He’d met lesser men who had cowered underneath his glare and lowered voice, and yet the tiny woman in animal face shoes had stood up to him without hesitation.

As soon as Andrei turned the corner of the hallway, Oliver knocked on the door. He waited a moment but there was no response. He tried again, and still no answer.

“Felicity! Open the damn door,” He growled out, his temper spiking. When she remained quiet, slid the key into the lock and turned it.

Oliver opened her door with more force than he meant to, and it slammed into the wall but there was no gasp of indignation or raised voiced greeting him inside like he expected. The thought that she may have managed to leave crossed his mind and it spurred him into action. He stalked into her room, his eyes roaming over every corner and the closed windows. They landed on the bed next.

Oliver finally understood her lack of response.

Felicity was asleep in the middle of the bed, her small form curled into a ball and her blonde curls falling into her face. Her glasses were still perched on her nose, but they were skewed at an awkward angle from how she was laying. She wasn’t even laying underneath the covers. 

She had to of been exhausted if she fell asleep with her glasses on and without covering up. Especially since she hadn’t heard any of the staff, or her door slamming, and he was envious of her ability to sleep so soundly, so unaware. Oliver stared at her another long moment, watching her sleep, the steady rise and fall of her chest and the slow, even breaths escaping her lips. Looking at Felicity sleep just reaffirmed his choice to keep her out of the business as much as he could. When he inevitably had to involve her in the Bratva, he knew she would lose her ability to sleep so soundly, like he had. Oliver couldn’t remember the last time he had been so unaware of the world, even his sleep he remained on constant alert, never fully being completely unconscious.

Oliver didn’t want that for her.

Felicity didn’t deserve it.

He finally looked away from her, bringing her suitcase inside and setting it against the wall. Oliver was about to leave, when he heard her let out a little whimper. He turned to see her tuck her knees further into her chest as a shiver racked her frame.

Oliver hesitated, then took a step closer to the bed. Another chill went through her, and it made his decision. He walked to the side of her bed, leaning over to carefully remove her glasses. Felicity didn’t stir as he did it, and with them off he could see the dried tear tracks on her face. He realized she must’ve cried herself to sleep.

The thought caused his chest to twist uncomfortably. Felicity looked so much younger, and so vulnerable, as she slept. Long dark eyelashes rested on her cheeks, which were dotted with freckles he hadn’t noticed before. Her full pale pink lips were slightly parted, and a bit chapped, as she breathed deeply in her sleep.

She was the picture of innocence. 

He remembered then that she was just twenty-two, the same age he been when his parents were murdered before his eyes. It was six years ago almost, and it had been the catalyst that started the chain reaction to turn him into the man he was today. Oliver was nowhere near the person he had been then, Anatoly and the Bratva saw to that. He could never go back to who he was before, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted too.

Ollie Queen had been useless, but the man he was now was capable and powerful enough to protect his remaining family from harm. However, he did know that he didn’t want to take the good and the innocence from Felicity Smoak to twist her into something darker and corrupt.

He knew she didn’t deserve it, not like he had. Even as Ollie Queen, he hadn’t been a good person. He was even less so now.

Looking at the tiny form of the woman curled into a ball in front him, he felt a fierce urge to protect her, the likes of which he only had experienced with Thea, roar inside him. The feeling with Felicity wasn’t entirely the same, while it was just as intense, it was also different way he didn’t know how to describe. Oliver gripped the glasses he still had in his fist, and as soon as the edges dug into his palms, he released his tight hold, not wanting to damage them.

Oliver folded her glasses and laid them on the night stand next to her. He paused again, wondering if he should just walk out the door and leave her to sleep the way she was, until she let out another little whine and shivered. Before he could second guess himself again, Oliver slid his arms underneath her, carefully lifting her from the bed. She weighed next to nothing in his arms.

Instead of pulling away or waking up, Felicity shifted herself closer to his chest like she was seeking out his warmth and gripped his shirt in her tiny fist as she pressed her face into the junction of his neck and shoulder. She sighed against his skin, her soft puff of breath sending goosebumps across his flesh. Oliver took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly as he inadvertently tightened his hold on her.

He made sure she was secure against him and reached out with one arm to pull back the covers. Oliver bent down, laying her against the sheets as delicately as he could, trying his best not to wake her. She didn’t seem to want to let go of him and he had to gently uncurl her fingers away from where it was clenched in his shirt. Oliver couldn’t help but let a small smile tug up at his lips.

As soon as he released her hand, she pulled it towards herself with a sleepy noise. He drew the covers up and over her until they rested just underneath her chin. Felicity let out another sigh as she was cocooned under the warmth of the blankets. Oliver looked at her sleeping form one last time, before leaving the room and locking the door behind him.

**

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: 2 weeks later_

Felicity had been at the Queen mansion for two weeks. Those two weeks were filled with absolute boredom as she tried to fill her days with things to keep herself busy. For some reason, she hadn’t seen Oliver since her first night and hadn’t been called on to do any illegal cyber tasks. Not that she was complaining about not breaking the law, but the longer she sat doing nothing, the longer it’d take to work off the money her father owed.

It also increased her anxiety levels. Felicity needed to know what was going on, but so far she was kept in the dark about everything.

She still wasn’t allowed access to her phone or the internet without supervision, unless it was the TV in her room, so she had spent most of that time binge watching all the shows she hadn’t had the time to catch up on since she had been so busy with work. At least that wouldn’t be an issue for her anymore, seeing as she was no longer employed at Palmer Tech.

After she had woken up on the first day, a Russian man by the name Andrei had handed her her cell phone and told her to make whatever calls she needed to in order to get her affairs in order at Palmer Tech and in New York. He had stayed the entire time she was emailing and calling and basically dismantling her life in New York. She had renewed her apartments lease not long ago, choosing to pay the rent in full for a year ahead of time, so she was able to keep the place and all her belongings in it as nothing more than a glorified storage unit. Felicity only hoped she would be living in it again before the year was up.

Her job hadn’t been so easy to quit. It was her dream, and she was doing good in the world with it. Even if she disliked her CEO, the job was worth it. But now she no longer had her career, or any career, really, besides cybercriminal, and she couldn’t exactly put that on a resume.

Felicity had gotten on the phone with HR and spun a story about her mom was very sick and needed her home to take care of her, and as much as the lie burned her throat, they seemed to believe it, wishing her the best of luck and telling her they were sad to see her leave. Felicity profusely apologized for not giving a two week notice because she still had hope that she’d eventually be able to go back to her normal life after Starling. She had to hold onto something, or else she’d go crazy. So, she’d need a good reference from Palmer Tech to restart her life after this Bratva chapter closed. Felicity was beyond relieved that HR was more than understanding and told her it was alright. It lifted some weight off her shoulders.

Thankfully, it was all done through the HR department and she hadn’t needed to speak to Ray at all. 

Felicity hadn’t had the courage to call Curtis and lie to him, so she had sent him a text telling him the same story she told HR and let him know she may go off the grid for awhile since she’d be busy with her (fake) sick mom. Andrei took her phone before she could get a response, so she had no idea what Curtis was thinking, or if he believed it.

Speaking of the large Russian, he was the same tall brunette man on the footage she’d seen of her mom being led by the arm into the plane. He was also her shadow. He’d barely spoken more than a few sentences to her, nothing beyond explaining how she wasn’t allowed around technology unsupervised, and all the other rules she had to follow. Basically, she wasn’t allowed anywhere without him and couldn’t leave the grounds.

He stood watch right outside her door almost 24/7, he left during the night and another guard took his place then, but Andrei was always there in the morning. She’d found that one out because she was going to try and find the kitchen because she got hungry in the middle of the night, until she opened the door and saw another scary Russian goon that she wasn’t used to seeing. Felicity had slammed the door shut and gone back to bed afterwards, forgetting about food.

The entire two weeks she hadn’t left her room once and hadn’t even attempted to since that night. Her meals were brought up on trays three times a day, by a kindly older woman named Raisa. Despite feeling like a prisoner, she couldn’t help but return the older woman’s kindness. Raisa had been nothing but sweet to Felicity, sometimes she’d even sit and talk with her while she ate since she had no one else to talk too. They never talked about Felicity’s situation, usually steering the conversations to Felicity’s life in New York and stories of where she grew up and what she liked to do. In turn, Raisa told her about her life in Russia before coming to the states and the little boy she used nanny for when she first got here.

Felicity refused to speak to Andrei on principle, the man had abducted her mother after all, and her only interactions with him were when she purposefully tried to annoy him. It was childish, sure, but she was bored, and angry at her situation and he was an easy target. She had taken to turning her TV up as high as it would go playing musicals, old Disney movies, and every rom com known to man, knowing Andrei could hear through the door in hopes to bother him. She’d also started singing as loudly and off key as could when watching said musicals knowing it was irritating.

Felicity was watching _Mamma Mia!_ loudly, for the fifth time, and in the middle of singing the ABBA tunes as terribly as she could when she was interrupted by a knock on her door.

“Come in, Raisa. I told you, you don’t have to knock anymore.” She called out, throwing back the covers of the bed and standing up, eagerly anticipating whatever delicious breakfast food Raisa would be bringing in.

She may be a glorified prisoner, but at least the food was good.

Raisa stepped through the door, a large tray in her hand. Felicity quickly crossed the room, relieving the woman of the heavy tray. Felicity set in on the foot of the bed and sat down next to it.

“Ms. Felicity,” Her tone was chastising, “You cannot love this movie that much. Poor Mr. Andrei must have it _Pristal kak bannyi list_ in his head.”

Felicity didn’t understand the Russian phrase. “What does that mean?”

Raisa seemed like she was searching for a translation, “Stuck like a bathhouse leaf.”

Felicity still wasn’t sure what that meant, but the way Raisa said it made her think she was succeeding in her efforts to annoy Andrei and she couldn’t help grinning. Raisa noticed and sent her a disapproving look.

“You need to get out of this room.” She said, her accent thick and leaving no room for argument.

Felicity popped a strawberry in her mouth from the tray and snorted in an unladylike manner.

“Yeah, I think I’ll take a quick trip to the mall for some more clothes and maybe even stop by the nail salon and get a manicure.” Felicity said sarcastically. “Oh wait, I can’t leave the Mansion.”

Raisa sent her a sympathetic look before replacing it with determination. She grabbed Felicity’s arm, pulling her up from her seated position and away from her breakfast. Felicity let her, because the older Russian woman could be intimidating when she wanted too.

“Raisa, what are you doing? Let me finish my food.” She complained, glancing longing at the breakfast tray.

“No, Ms. Felicity. Come.” Raisa said firmly, tugging her across the room and to the door.

Raisa opened it, and Andrei looked up in surprise. Whether it was because he was seeing Raisa so soon or the fact that she was dragging Felicity out of the room, Felicity didn’t know. He let them pass without saying a word, following behind them silently.

“Where are we going?” Felicity asked nervously, dragging her feet to slow them down.

She had yet to leave her room and the thought of walking barefoot around the Queen mansion in her pajama’s and slightly greasy hair while members of the mob strolled around made her uncomfortable. They weren’t even nice pajamas. Felicity was still living out of the suitcase she had packed, which was mostly full of comfy clothes, and the staff had been rewashing all her things almost daily so she could wear them again.

Not to mention, she was makeup less and her hair was beyond messy because no one was meant to be seeing her except Raisa.

Raisa stayed quiet, leading her through so many halls and turns Felicity was getting hopelessly lost. If it wasn’t for the encouraging and excited smile on Raisa’s face, Felicity would have been a lot more nervous. But Raisa seemed like she knew where she was going, and Felicity trusted her enough to not bring her anywhere she wouldn’t want to be.

Finally, they stopped in front of two heavy wooden doors that were carved with intricate patterns.

“You used to love to go to the library when you were a _malyshka,_ yes?” Raisa asked, her accent thick. She didn’t the know the Russian word, but assumed it meant little girl.

Felicity was confused but answered anyways. “Yeah, I would spend hours there.”

And she did. When Felicity was a child, her mom had briefly worked at hotel bar slash casino in a bad part of town, and right next to it was a run down public library that was frequented more by the homeless than anyone else, but Donna Smoak hadn’t had the money for daycare and when Felicity got tired of sitting at the bar or one of the tables doing homework, she’d walk next door and read until her moms shift was over. The librarians were sweet old women who looked over her and encouraged her to learn and read as much as possible. They even used to let her take apart the old radios, cassette players, and VCR’s people donated.

Felicity had loved it.

Raisa all but grinned at her as she opened the doors with a flourish. Behind them stood a library that was way bigger than the public one in Vegas. Bookshelves filled the room, reaching as high as ceiling, stuffed with books. There were a couple tables and desks spread out in the room, along with a sitting area that housed a couch, and two very fluffy looking armchairs in front of a large unlit fireplace. The entire room was done in rich, warm fabrics and dark woods, giving a very cozy and old feel.

It was perfect.

Felicity stepped inside, looking around in wonder. She noticed she didn’t see a single computer but for once, it didn’t bother her. Reading was her first love. Books on electronics, electricity and currents taught her about technology and computers before she could build one.

“Thank you, Raisa,” Felicity said, throwing her arms around the woman, unable to stop the tears welling up in her eyes or the emotions choking up her voice. She knew she was probably being overdramatic because she was crying over a library. But she’d been through a lot recently and her emotions were running wild, and it was so kind of Raisa. “This means a lot.”

Raisa patted and rubbed her back in a way that reminded her of her mother. “You do not have to thank me, _milaya devushka,_ you just need to be happy. I know this house is not home for you, but I thought this might be close.”

Felicity pulled away and wiped her eyes. Raisa was right, it wasn’t home, but being surrounded by books gave her a sense of comfort she’d been missing in her time here. Now, she at least had somewhere else she could go and get away. Reading had a way of transporting her wherever the written words were going, and Felicity could disappear in them entirely. Whole worlds were at her fingertips with the stories she could find in the library, and that was something she couldn’t do with TV. She couldn’t immerse herself in shows and movies, not like she could with books.

Maybe it wasn’t healthy, and it was definitely a form of escapism, but it was better than the reality Felicity was facing so she’d take what she could get.

“It is. You’re amazing, Raisa. This is basically like porn to me.” Felicity said, then realized what she said. “I mean that metaphorically, I’m not sexually attracted to books. Or libraries. I just love them a lot. But in a totally appropriate, totally normal way. And I’m gonna stop talking now.” She cringed, feeling her face heat up.

If she looked closely, Felicity thought she could see her dignity on the floor. For her part, Raisa just laughed, an amused twinkle in her eye.

“I will leave you to it then, Ms. Felicity. I’ll get another tray sent up too.” She smiled at her warmly one last time, before leaving Felicity alone in the library.

Well not totally, since Andrei stood vigil next to the door. Felicity glanced at him, his face was blank, but she saw a hint of relief in his eyes from the lack of TV’s and speakers in the room

And she couldn’t have that.

“Oh, did I tell you that I like to read out loud? I even do the voices.” She commented to him, unable to keep the evil smirk off her face.

None of that was true, but she would gladly start if it meant she could annoy her Russian shadow.

He didn’t say a word, but he grimaced, and that was enough for her.

**

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: Later that night_

Yet again, Oliver sat in his study with a glass of scotch in hand. He already had a long day at QC and now he had to deal with his other business. The Bratva was expecting a shipment of product at Verdant and he needed to finish the logistics portion of it. Which meant assigning men to guard, men to unload and about a hundred other things he wasn’t in the mood to do. There was a knock on the door, and this time, he wasn’t going to answer it.

“ _Not now.”_ He called out in Russian, his voice dark and low.

There was a long moment of silence and then Dig’s familiar voice answered. “It’s about the girl, Mr. Queen.”

Diggle refused to call him Captain about ninety-nine percent of the time, using his first name instead, and he only called him Mr. Queen in front of other Bratva members. Oliver guessed that it was Andrei standing outside to come deliver his report about Felicity before heading to bed.

“ _Enter_.”

The door opened, Diggle, Andrei and to his surprise, Raisa came in. Dig had a smirk on his face that Oliver knew from experience was trouble, while Raisa looked pleased and Andrei seemed disgruntled. Diggle shut the door, leaning against it. His posture was relaxed, his hands in his pockets. Oliver frowned, and nodded to Andrei, urging him to speak.

“The girl did her usual activities, except that she went to the Queen library and read, _Kapitan._ ” Andrei said, he kept his tone respectful, but Oliver heard annoyance underneath.

Oliver raised his eyebrows, in the two weeks she’d been here, Felicity had stayed in her room and hadn’t left once. He looked to Raisa who had a smile on her face, amusement shining in her eyes. She clearly knew something he didn’t about Andrei’s mood.

“Very well, Andrei. I will see you tomorrow.” Oliver said, the dismissal clear, and the man nodded before leaving the room. He turned his focus onto Raisa next. “You look pleased.”

It went unsaid that he expected her to tell him why, and she did so immediately.

“I showed her to the library, _Kapitan._ Her eyes lit up. It was the happiest she has been since coming here. She spent all day inside reading, she is a very bright girl.” Raisa explained, unmistakable pride in her words.

Oliver nodded. He knew that, the file he had on her informed him of her 170 IQ. A part of him was relieved that she was finally leaving her room and enjoying herself. Even if she wasn’t allowed off the grounds, he never wanted her to stay trapped in her room like it was a prison. He hadn’t been the library himself in a very long time, and he was glad someone was using it. Thea wasn’t a reader either and she tended to stay away from it.

“Am I to assume you also know what’s wrong with Andrei?” Oliver asked her, taking a large drink of his scotch. The liquid burned his throat like fire all the way down to his stomach, and he relished in the feeling. His own personal penance for decisions he was making for the Brotherhood tonight.

Diggle let out a chuckle he tried to cover as cough, which informed Oliver his second in command knew all about it as well. Mischief danced in Raisa’s warm brown eyes as her lips raised into smile.

“Ms. Felicity is a _troublemaker_ ,” She said the word in Russian, “Much like a boy I used to know. She has taken it upon herself to bother Mr. Andrei as much as she can. She can sing and read very loudly if she wishes and has taken great joy in introducing him to American pop culture and musicals.”

Oliver felt his own lips tug into a smile before he forced himself to drop it. “I see. Well, if he can’t handle it then he has no place in the Brotherhood.”

Raisa laughed.

“ _Da_ , _Kapitan._ ” Then she hesitated, before taking a step closer to his desk. “Perhaps, she would not bother him as much if she were to feel more at home here. Ms. Felicity still only has her clothes from the suitcase she brought with her, and nothing else. Nothing to remind her of her life, or anything else familiar. Would you grant me the permission to ask her what she may want from her apartment and have the men in the New York outfit retrieve it for her?”

Once again, his chest twisted with guilt. “You may. And once its done, set her up in the family wing of the mansion with her belongings. The suites are bigger there.”

Raisa beamed at him, like she approved of what he just said. She had given him that same look throughout his childhood when he would correctly answer a question she had asked him. He could feel Diggle’s eyes on him, but he ignored it.

“Of course, _Kapitan._ ” She said obediently, and with a small nod and large smile she left the room.

“Just say whatever it is you’re going to say, John.” Oliver sighed, in no mood for his friends knowing looks.

“What are you doing, man?” Diggle asked, then he elaborated when he saw Oliver’s blank look. “With the girl. You made a deal to use her for her skills and yet, you haven’t called on her once. Now, you’re putting her into the family wing and using the Bratva as her own personal moving service.”

Oliver glared at him. “Nothing has come up that requires her services.” He said shortly, refusing to acknowledge the rest of his statement.

But only because Oliver didn’t even know why he was doing any of it for her. He just knew that his chest twisted uncomfortably, and his stomach dropped every time Andrei would report she wouldn’t leave her room and that he had heard her crying a few times through the door. So, when Raisa gave him an opportunity to help lessen her pain, he hadn’t hesitated to take it. He never wanted to be cruel to her, not in the way he had to be with everyone else. She didn’t deserve that. Felicity was just too brave for her own good and gotten herself stuck in a situation she couldn’t get out of.

So he’d protect her from herself, from him, and from the Bratva.

John observed Oliver quietly for a moment, before shaking his head like he knew something Oliver didn’t. “Alright, man. If you say so. Maybe you could invite her to dinner?”

Oliver shot him a look, and Dig added, “I mean dinner in the dining room. It’s going to take awhile for her stuff to get here and that way she can at least get out of her room and go somewhere other than the library. See other people besides Raisa and Andrei.”

“I’ll consider it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments or kudos you guys would like to leave behind would be wonderful :) also follow me on twitter! @ more0rlessjess


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe I'll get you out of my head, Maybe I'll forget all the things you said" - Maybe by Alina Baraz

_The Queen Mansion, Starling City: Two days later_

Felicity was reading in the library again when Andrei approached her. He grunted to get her attention and she ignored him. Andrei did it again, and Felicity stared pointedly at the page she was attempting to read.

“ _Malen'kaya ptitsa_!” He said, and very loudly at that.

“ _What_ ,” Felicity emphasized by slamming her book closed, “Did you just call me? I’m getting really fracking sick of all of you using Russian words I don’t understand.”

“The _Kapitan_ ,” Andrei continued, disregarding her question entirely, “Has requested you join him tonight in the dining room for dinner. You will be ready by seven o’clock.” 

“He might be your glorious leader, but he’s not mine.” She glared at the large Russian. While not quite true since she was under Oliver Queen’s thumb, she also wasn’t going to be ordered to eat dinner with him. Felicity was going to exercise whatever little freedoms she had left and who she ate with was one of them, damn it. “I’m not going.”

“Yes, you are. You do not say no to the _Kapitan_.”

“You might not, but I do. And will. Just like this—no.” Felicity opened her book and pretended to read it again.

Andrei said something under his breath that didn’t sound very nice. But then again, he spoke Russian.

Nothing sounded very nice in Russian.

He left her alone and went back to his post at the door. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed him typing into his phone. For a brief, veritable insane, moment she considered running at him and snatching the phone out of his hand and using the technology to access the internet and delete her existence so she could disappear. Just like her dear old dad.

She dismissed the thought just as quickly.

Andrei was literally twice her size. There was no way she’d win against him.

Felicity tried to focus on her book, but all she could think about was why in the hell Oliver Queen would order her to eat dinner with him. It was strange. She hadn’t seen, or talked to him, since the first night she came to the Mansion.

What did he want with her now?

A pit of dread formed in her stomach.

What if he was finally calling on her to put her skills to use for the Brotherhood?

A million thoughts raced through her mind until a hand fell on her shoulder. She startled, nearly falling out of the large armchair she was nestled in.

“Sorry, Ms. Felicity,” Raisa said apologetically. “I did not mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay.” Felicity squeaked, a hand to her heart. “Please just try to avoid it in the future, I’m too young to have a heart attack.”

The older woman laughed. “Of course. Now what is this I hear about you saying no to the _Kapitan_?”

Felicity’s eyes darted to the door, where Andrei stood stoically. He purposefully avoided looking at her.

“Snitch!” She called out to him. “You’re Russian, you should know what snitches get.”

He ignored her heckling.

“Ms. Felicity.” Raisa chastised.

“I’m not going, Raisa.” Felicity said stubbornly.

“The _Kapitan_ invited you. You must attend.”

“I absolutely do not.”

“He is not the man you think he is.” The older woman told her, sitting in the opposite armchair.

Felicity scoffed. “I think he’s the Captain of the Russian mob. No offense.” She added. 

Raisa stared at her for a long moment, before shaking her head. “He was not always. The _Kapitan_ was a kind boy. But the world was not so kind to him.”

Felicity processed that cryptic statement. “Are you talking about his parents?”

“I am talking about a lot of things.” Raisa said vaguely. “He is allowing you to have your belongings shipped here, something he does not have to do. Maybe you should thank him for that, Ms. Felicity.”

For the first time, she found herself irritated with the older woman. Just because Oliver Queen decided to do one decent thing and let her have her clothes and some familiar stuff doesn’t mean she has to be eternally grateful to him. Raisa must’ve read the look on her face.

“He is also moving you to the family wing.”

“What?” Felicity asked, dumbfounded. “Why?”

“He says the rooms are bigger. I cannot speak for him, but I think the _Kapitan_ wants you to feel more at home here.” She said kindly.

Felicity snorted. She was no better than a prisoner here. It wasn’t her home.

Her home was in New York City. Or in Las Vegas with her mom.

Not here.

“Ms. Felicity, I understand you do not want to go but will you go anyways? For me? It would bring happiness to this old womans heart.”

The guilt trip was more effective than Felicity wanted it to be. Raisa had been her saving grace since being here. If not for the kind woman, Felicity would’ve gone stir crazy.

“Fine. But I don’t have to talk to him.” She said petulantly. “I just have to eat.”

**

_Queen Consolidated, Starling City: Near Dinner Time_

Oliver sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. It had been another rough day. This time it wasn’t from his Bratva business but from his family company. He’d been nonstop going over new projects for the Applied Sciences division that required his approval to be green lit or shut down. Oliver didn’t understand half of what he was reading.

His intelligence wasn’t in science or technology.

It was in violence. It was in intimidation.

He knew the easiest way to kill man without leaving a trace. He understood the quickest way to break a man. He didn’t need a weapon to subdue or kill, he was the weapon. But hand him a gun and he could use it like it was an extension of himself.

That was all Oliver was anymore.

A tool used to destroy, aimed at whatever threatened his family. And his self-interests.

Oliver pushed back in his chair, closing the file.

He needed a drink. Oliver made his way to the drink cart.

“Might not want to drink on an empty stomach,” John called out, opening the door to his office. “Unless you don’t plan on going to home to eat dinner with the woman you all but commanded to attend.”

“I didn’t command her.” He muttered.

“You had Andrei relay the message. We both know him. He didn’t ask her. He told her.” Diggle said dryly.

“I didn’t think about it like that.” Oliver admitted. He checked his watch. “But I need to leave now if I’m going to make it.”

“Then let’s go.” His second in command said, a smirk on his face, “Am I invited to this dinner too?”

“No.”

**

Felicity was aggravated.

She’d been sitting in the stupid dining room surrounded by empty cutlery and two eerily silent members of the kitchen staff who were standing against the wall. They only ever stepped forwards to refill her water glass and said nothing else, despite the fact she kept asking them where their glorious leader was. It had been 45 minutes past the time she was told dinner started. A dinner she’d been all but ordered to attend.

At least she’d drawn the line at the dress Raisa suggested she wear.

The only good thing was that her belongings had arrived right as she was getting ready for the dinner. And by ready, she meant changing out of the pajama’s she’d worn all day and into a fresh pair. She refused to let Oliver Queen think she was dressing up for him. Maybe it was childish, but there were so few things she could control right now, and what she wore was one of them. So, pajamas it was.

Felicity was angrily twisting her cloth napkin (because they were so fancy they apparently didn’t have paper towels like normal people) when the dining room door swung open. Oliver walked in, dressed in a well fitted suit. His face was blank, no hint of remorse or apology for being late. The members of the staff nodded respectfully to him before one of them left, presumably to get their dinner. Oliver sat down, glancing at the remaining staff member, an older woman who had blonde hair and wrinkled face, gesturing vaguely with his hand.

“Scotch. Neat.” 

The woman moved immediately to the drink cart, pouring the liquor out of the decanter and into a glass. She sat the glass in front of him before moving back against the wall. It infuriated Felicity.

He couldn’t say please or thank you?

Maybe treat his staff with some basic human respect?

Or Hell, apologize for being nearly an hour late to a dinner he forced her to go to?

Unable to stop herself, she bit out, “They didn’t teach you any manners in Bratva, huh?”

“No.” He answered shortly, taking a drink of his scotch.

“Care to tell me why I had to wait forty-five minutes for you to get here after being explicitly told what time I had to be seated?”

“No.”

Felicity glared at him for the one word responses. “Are you just going to give me one-word answers all night?”

“No,” Oliver said. He paused then added, “I’m not.”

She was about to say something not very nice when the side door opened and two staff members came in with trays. They placed them on tables in front them, then removed the covers. Each staff member served out portions of the food onto each of their plates which made Felicity feel super uncomfortable. She could do that herself, but she knew if she tried to stop them, they wouldn’t listen due to their bosses presence.

“May we get you anything else, sir?” One of them asked in a polite and respectful tone.

Felicity found herself irritated that they didn’t address her at all.

“No. That’ll be it.” Oliver said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Leave us.”

They both nodded, before leaving the room. Felicity rolled her eyes and grabbed her fork. She studied the meal in front of her, and with an aggravated huff she slammed her fork down. He ignored her and started to cut into his chicken. She watched him eat in silence, fuming the whole time.

“What?” Oliver snapped, glaring at her. “Is the food not good enough for you?”

“I’m sure it’s _great_ ,” Felicity said sarcastically, “Except you know, I’m allergic to nuts and if I eat this,” She stabbed her fork angrily into the walnut crusted chicken, “I’ll probably die. But then again you’d probably want that because then I’d be off your hands.”

He looked startled. “I didn’t realize.”

“Yeah well you never asked either.” Felicity retorted.

“How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me?” Oliver sounded irritated which wasn’t cool because he was the one who just tried to feed her something that would send her into anaphylactic shock.

“Because usually Oliver, when people ask other people out to dinner, they make sure they don’t have any allergies.” She snarked. Then her face turned red. “I mean not that you asked _asked_ me to dinner, like as a date because this isn’t a date. I’m a prisoner and you’re my… whatever you are. So really if this was a date that’d be like some serious Stockholm syndrome going on and I don’t have that. I don’t like you.”

Oh god.

That was mortifying.

Felicity closed her eyes in embarrassment and wished the floor would swallow her up. Peeking out of one eye, she risked a glance at Oliver. He seemed a little surprised at her babble and somewhat amused. The corner of his mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile. It was the most emotion she’d seen on him yet. She stood up suddenly, her chair scraping noisily across the floor.

“I’m just gonna… go,” Felicity nodded rapidly to herself, “Yep, that’s what I’m gonna do before I talk myself into a grave by annoying you. Bye.” She squeaked out, then all but ran from the room.

She thought she heard him call her name out but she ignored it. Felicity only relaxed when she was on the other side of her bedroom door.

A couple hours later, she was in the middle of watching a Harry Potter movie and trying to forget the entire night, when a knock sounded on the door. Felicity stood up warily and opened it. Andrei stood there with a disgruntled look on his face. He all but shoved a bag of Big Belly Burger into her hands. Her stomach growled. She still had eaten.

“For you.” He grunted.

“What?” Felicity asked in confusion, glancing down at the bag. There was something written on the receipt. She looked closer, her eyes widening as she read it.

_Sorry for dinner, hope this makes up for it – Oliver_

Confusion warred with the appreciation she felt at the small gesture. Should she even be thankful?

He was a mob boss after all.

But he didn’t have to go out and buy her more food. And it was her favorite fast food. She’d told Raisa that awhile ago, so he would’ve had to ask the kindly older woman about her and what she liked.

Who exactly was Oliver Queen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any comments or kudos you guys would like to leave behind would be wonderful :) also follow me on twitter! @ more0rlessjess


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Give your heart and soul to charity  
> 'Cause the rest of you, the best of you  
> Honey, belongs to me..." - NFWMB by Hozier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I dont know what happened but I got slammed full force with inspiration for this chapter and so it here it is! Hope yall enjoy and thank you everyone so much for reading :)
> 
> I realize I should warn for this as well,
> 
> TW: brief mentions of suicide

_The Queen Mansion: 2:34 am, a week after dinner with Oliver_

Felicity peeked out of her door cautiously.

No guard.

How… odd.

Ever since Oliver had her moved to the ‘family’ wing of the house, they’d stopped placing a guard at her door 24/7. That didn’t mean she wasn’t still under lock and key. She was. No unsupervised tech time, and during the day if she went anywhere in the house (the only place she ever went was the library) she had Andrei as her shadow. But right now, Felicity was free.

And she really wanted to explore.

She’d been here weeks now, an entire month actually, and Felicity had still only seen parts of the mansion. Her room, her new room, the library, the kitchen, and the dining room.

That was it.

The mansion was huge, and she’d only seen a tiny portion of it.

Felicity opened her door, taking a deep breath to garner more courage. She blew the air out of her nose while simultaneously stepping out onto the cool hardware floor with her bare feet. She was too scared to wear shoes and make noise with them. She went down the hall, passing the room that she knew belonged to Oliver and the one that belonged to his sister, Thea. Which she knew was Thea’s because the door had a handmade sign saying ‘Thea’ on it. Felicity had yet to meet the teenager, and she had no idea if the youngest Queen even knew of her existence.

But that was a question for another day.

Felicity turned the corner and crept down the magnificent staircase to the main floor. She hadn’t passed any guards yet. She was praying that stayed the case. She landed on the bottom stair, looking left then right to try and decide which route to take. Right went into what looked like a foyer and living room, and left was the way to the kitchens and dining room.

She picked right. She walked as quietly, going straight through the foyer and into the living room. There were two not very comfortable looking couches sitting across from each other, a coffee table between them. Along the wall was a low table underneath a window, and on it sat a small model sized boat with the name ‘The Gambit’ written on its side. A gigantic fireplace took over another wall. Felicity felt herself drawn towards it and the family photo’s lining the mantle.

The pictures weren’t was she was expecting.

There were the usual baby pictures and group family photos, but none of them were candid pictures. They were all professionally staged and taken. Each member of the family seemed stiff in every photo. Nothing soft or… genuine about them. Her eyes fell on the photo of what she assumed was a young Oliver, maybe thirteen or fourteen. He was wearing dress pants with a white collared shirt and tie, a blazer over his shoulders embroidered with emblem of Starling Preparatory Academy. He was smiling in the photo, yet it didn’t seem to reach his eyes.

Felicity hated herself for it, for having sympathy for the man keeping her trapped, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for how he and Thea grew up. It seemed like it was a life full of expectation and rules, something she couldn’t relate too. Donna Smoak had raised Felicity loosely. Without hardly any structure, and there were definitely no staged professional pictures on a mantle in her moms house.

Because one, they didn’t have a fireplace in their apartment, and two they couldn’t afford professional photography. All of Felicity’s baby pictures and memories were taken on disposable cameras on film that was developed at the CVS next to their apartment complex. Or the photos were from the polaroid camera some tourist left in the casino and her mom had brought home. Felicity frowned and turned away from the mantle. She walked over to the model ship, tilting her head to the side as she studied it.

Rich people were weird, Felicity concluded.

Her eyes were drawn to something gleaming in the window above the table. Excitement filled her. The light that caught her eye was the reflection of the moon on the surface of a massive pool. Felicity could only see part of the pool from her angle at the window, but from what she could see let her know it was huge.

A gigantic swimming pool.

She hadn’t been swimming in years. Felicity used to love it. She’d always swim in the pools of the hotel casinos her mom worked at, because it was Vegas and it was hot year round. Plus, they had lifeguards which were a free babysitting service for her mother. Not that Felicity really ever needed a babysitter, but it made her mom feel better. The smell of the chlorine and sunscreen was a permeant scent on her skin and hair in summertime.

Felicity missed it. She missed the smell and the way she felt when she completely submerged herself underwater. The silence was calming to her. And freeing. It was the only time her brain stopped it’s lightening fast process. And growing up as a genius was a hard, especially as a preteen then teenager. So far, swimming was the healthiest way Felicity had found to make her brain shut up.

Suddenly, she needed to be in that pool.

Felicity needed to just forget her situation. To feel free as she floated weightlessly through the water. The cool water chilling her skin, completely encasing her in its depths. The fresh night air and the stars gleaming against the water. She needed to be submerged in those waters. Felicity needed it as badly as she needed to breathe.

Her eyes searched the grounds for patrolling guards. She didn’t see any. They were probably there, but she couldn’t see them. And they were none anywhere near the pool. Which was good enough for her. Felicity decided to take her chances, and before she knew it, her feet had carried her through the living room and down another hall to find an exit at the end of it. There were doors to a patio she hadn’t known existed. But it led outside and that was all she cared about.

Not long after, Felicity found herself standing in front the massive pool. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of chlorine and fresh air. It smelled so good. Like home, and something so familiar it made her chest ache. She felt so homesick that tears filled her eyes. Felicity missed her mom. She missed everything about her old life.

Shaking her head to clear the bad thoughts, but not bothering to wipe her eyes, Felicity glanced down at her outfit. It wasn’t going to be the most comfortable swimming in pajama shorts and a white tank top, but there was no way she was going to undress down to her bra and panties. Not when a guard could come running in any second. And it wasn’t like she had a bathing suit back in her room, so it’d have to do. She took her glasses off, setting them carefully on the ground before straightening up. Felicity took a deep breath, not risking another minute of possibly getting caught, and dove into the water.

The water was so cold it shocked her nervous system, momentarily stunning her. But it did exactly what Felicity needed it too. The freezing water stopped her mind until she was only able to focus on her physical body. It stopped the homesick thoughts, and the fear, and the constant anxiety from the position she was in. She opened her eyes, only able to see the dark blurry water in front of her for what seemed like an infinite distance.

Felicity moved her arms in a circular motion, kicking her legs and pushing herself down further in the water so she didn’t break the surface. Her hair floated around her, the color indistinguishable from being wet and in the limited light. Felicity closed her eyes once more, enjoying the tranquility that being submerged awarded her. She had every intent to stay under the water until her lungs burned and she couldn’t any longer.

There was nothing but pure blissful silence.

Or there was, until something warm and firm wrapped tightly around her middle from behind and jerked her strongly out of the water. She gasped for air as she broke the surface, opening her eyes. Felicity blinked the water out of them, but her vision still blurred without her glasses. There were arms banded around her waist, definitely male arms. That idea was furthered by the hard, muscular chest pressed against her back. Rage flowed through her.

The guards couldn’t let her do _one_ fucking thing? She wasn’t hurting anyone. And to go in the pool and manhandle her out of it?

Seriously?

Felicity kicked out at the man behind her, connecting with what she thought was his knee. He cursed, and she grinned vindictively. She thrashed in his hold in an attempt to get free, but in a show of pure strength he readjusted her with one arm, the other keeping them afloat. He trapped her arms against her sides to hold her in a vice like grip.

It was so tight; Felicity wasn’t able to move her arms or get any leverage to break free. Breathless from being underwater so long and his arms restricting her ability to expand her lungs, she couldn’t speak. He dragged them over to the shallower end where he could stand, and she fought him all the way, despite her lack of ability to fully move. Once his feet touched the bottom, one of his legs wrapped around her still kicking legs to stop them. Soon he had both of hers trapped between his. Felicity still wiggled against him.

“Stop it!” He growled into her ear. She didn’t listen, too hyped on adrenaline for the voice to register. “Felicity!”

She stilled immediately, finally recognizing him.

Oliver.

Fuck.

Felicity was in so much trouble.

Once he realized she wasn’t going to fight him anymore, Oliver slowly let her go. She broke away and turned around to face him. She had to tread water to keep afloat, because apparently, Oliver only went as far to where he could stand and not her. He was so much taller than her his shoulders and upper chest were out of the water while his feet were planted on the ground. There was no way her own feet could touch the bottom where they were at.

“Oliver?” She asked, some of her anger returning as the adrenaline faded. “What the hell?”

“I could be asking you the same thing!” Oliver practically roared. “What in Gods name were you doing in the pool fully clothed at almost three in the morning?”

“I was… I was…,” Felicity started and stopped, deflating a little. She didn’t know how to explain it to him. Not without sounding weak and emotional. That was the last image of herself she wanted to show him. Felicity needed to look strong, fierce even. Admitting she was homesick wasn’t the best way to present that.

“You were what?” He demanded, sounding furious. “This,” Oliver gestured between them, the water splashing violently at the movement, “Our deal? Your debt? It doesn’t go away if you die. Your father is still out there and there’s a debt to be paid. It doesn’t end with your life.”

She stared at him in shock, her mouth agape. “ _What_?”

Because did he honestly think she just tried to… commit suicide?

“You heard me, Felicity. I wont repeat myself.” Oliver glared at her, but she saw the wild look of panic in his eyes.

“Fuck, Oliver,” Felicity said, exasperated. “I wasn’t trying to kill myself. Especially not by drowning. That’s like the worst death ever.” She swam past him, towards the shallow end where she could actually stand. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water.

Oliver followed after her, grabbing her shoulder and turning her sharply to face him. Felicity glared at his hand touching her. He dropped it, crossing his arms instead.

“I don’t believe you.” Oliver snapped. “I’m assigning a guard to you 24/7 again. I will not have you try something like that again. Not when you’re under my protection and I’m the one meant to be keeping you safe, and alive.”

She threw her hands in the air. “I wasn’t trying to commit suicide!” Felicity yelled.

Her raised voice made him angrier and he took a step forward threateningly. He didn’t stop until they were almost chest to chest, and she had to crane her neck backwards to meet his intense gaze. Felicity was freezing from the air and the cold water, and the heat of his body was a welcome reprieve from it. Despite it, she glared at him.

“Do not,” Oliver whispered, so low and deadly it sent chill bumps down her arms and reminded her who exactly she was dealing with. A Captain in the Russian mob. “Raise your voice to me ever again. Are we clear?”

“I won’t,” Felicity started, her heart racing. He seemed satisfied and she continued, “If you don’t act like a jack ass, and listen to what I’m trying to tell you.”

“Felicity,” He growled in warning, something dark that she couldn’t read flashing in his eyes.

She could’ve sworn his eyes dropped to her lips before finding her gaze again.

“Just let me explain, Oliver,” Felicity said, forcing her voice to stay calm. She tentatively raised her hand and laid it on his chest. He went completely still under her touch. His eyes flicked to her small hand directly over his heart. Oliver looked up, making eye contact with her once more. What she found there in the dark blue depths was completely unreadable.

And then, miraculously Oliver started to relax.

Little by little, it was like all his tension uncoiled and left his body. Not expecting that, Felicity pulled her hand back like he burned her. 

“Explain then,” He demanded, but his voice was soft, much calmer than before.

“I was just swimming, fully clothed because I don’t have a bathing suit and I didn’t want to go in my underwear,” She said, her cheeks turning red in embarrassment. “But being underwater… it helps me. It makes my mind stop moving, stop thinking, for a small amount of time. And when you have a brain like mine… Well, that’s a good thing.” Felicity trailed off, looking down at the pool. She ran her hand longingly across the cool water. “And I love pools. They make me think of my home, back in Vegas.”

“Okay.” Oliver said quietly.

Felicity’s head shot up, and she met his eyes. He was watching her, something almost kind in his face.

“It’s yours then. You can use the pool whenever you want,” He told her. “I’ll make sure it’s known. But if anyone gives you trouble, tell me and I’ll handle it.”

“Really?” Felicity asked, a hopeful lilt in her voice. She cleared her throat, and asked again, this time more flatly, “I mean, really?”

“Really.” Oliver confirmed, and then he actually smiled at her. It was small but it was there. “I’m not trying to make your life miserable, Felicity. I want you to be as happy as you can be while you’re here.”

Her heart thumped in her chest.

“Why?” She questioned, not understanding him at all. And she desperately needed to understand.

A faraway expression entered his face. He looked up and away from her. He stared at the stars searchingly.

“Because,” Oliver said, his voice soft but distant. “No one should have to suffer from the sins of their father.”

“Oh.”

He shook his head, water droplets flying everywhere and sparkling in the moonlight. They clung to the stubble on his sculpted jaw like diamonds. Oliver glided over to the edge of the pool and lifted himself out with ease. Felicity couldn’t help but stare at the way the thick muscles in his back moved, the grey cotton shirt plastered to his skin only emphasizing it. Her eyes landed on large biceps while they flexed with the strain of lifting his massive body out of the pool. Felicity swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry.

Oliver was devastatingly handsome. 

And she also noticed he was wearing what must be his pajamas, black sweatpants and a t-shirt. Did he jump right out of bed to come rescue her? No hesitation? And how did he even see her?

Once Oliver was out, he leaned over the edge and held out a hand to her. Without a word, Felicity moved to the side of the pool and took his offered hand. Oliver lifted her out easily. When her feet were firmly on the ground, he bent down and picked up something.

“Your glasses,” Oliver said, handing them to her.

“Thank you.” Felicity slid them on her face, the world becoming clearer. A breeze blew and she shivered.

“You’re cold.” He observed. “Hang on.” Oliver walked to a large cabinet she hadn’t noticed before and rummaged through it. He returned with a large towel. “Here.”

“Thank you.” She repeated, taking the towel. She felt awkward suddenly. To distract herself, Felicity started to dry off with the towel, wicking away all the excess water from her skin. Her clothes were still hopelessly wet, but at least she wasn’t as cold. Then she realized he was still soaked. “Aren’t you cold? Take it.” Felicity offered him the towel.

“I’m fine.” Oliver said, then like it was an admission of some kind, he continued, “I don’t get cold anymore. Nothing is as cold as a Russian winter.”

“Oh.” It hit Felicity once more that he wasn’t just the man who dove into a pool fully clothed because he thought she was in danger, or told her she could use said pool whenever she wanted to make her happy, or even the one who found her a towel because she cold.

Oliver was the Captain of the Russian mob.

He was the Beast.

He was so many things and he wasn’t so many things that it started to make her head spin.

“How did you know I was out here?” Felicity asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Oliver pointed to the house, at balcony on the second floor. It had a set of French doors leading into the Mansion. It also overlooked the pool almost entirely.

“That’s my office, I was working with the doors open. I thought I heard someone out here, and I looked out and saw you diving into the pool, fully clothed, and not coming up. So, I reacted.” He said evenly.

“What, did you jump off the balcony to get here that fast?” She teased. When Oliver didn’t react, she gasped in disbelief. “You did, didn’t you?”

“I thought you were in danger.” 

Felicity had no idea how to respond to that.

“Can we go back inside?” Felicity asked, changing the subject. She just wanted to change clothes and go to bed. She’d had enough excitement for the night.

Oliver nodded and lead the way. She trailed after him. They were both quiet as they entered the house. As they neared the stairs, a guard she didn’t recognize approached them.

“ _Kapitan_ ,” The man said, bowing his head respectfully before meeting Oliver’s eyes. “I did not realize the woman had gotten out there until it was too late.” His Russian accent was thick. “I will bring her back myself.” He went to grab for Felicity, and she stepped back out of his reach and slightly behind Oliver.

“Don’t touch me.” She hissed out, glaring at the giant Russian.

“That will not be necessary, Vladimir.” Oliver said, his voice hard. All traces of whatever lightness he’d had only moments ago was gone. His body was tense, coiled and ready for a fight. “We’ll discuss your incompetence later.”

Felicity stared at Oliver.

Incompetence?

She thought he was fine with her going to the pool, what changed?

This entire night was giving her emotional whiplash. She should’ve stayed in bed.

“ _Da, Kapitan._ ” Vladimir said, his jaw clenched. He glared at Felicity. Except his eyes started to roam her figure and landed on her breasts where her wet tank top stuck to her bra. Something lecherous passed over his face. Felicity crossed her arms over her chest, desperately wanting to curse him out. But she knew it wasn’t a good idea.

If Oliver noticed his lackey staring at her, he didn’t say a word. He gently grabbed her elbow and led her up the stairs. He didn’t let her go until they reached her door.

“Oliver, why did you say that?” Felicity asked, a little angry and unable to stop herself. “To Vladimir? You told me it was okay if I started going down to the pool, but you called him incompetent and said you had to deal with him. I don’t get—,”

“Felicity,” He interrupted, but his voice was even, and he didn’t sound mad. “It is okay for you to go the pool, and I will make that very clear to all of my men.”

“Okay, so what’s the big deal with me going there tonight then? Since you said it was fine, then it’s simple and there’s nothing for him to get in trouble for.” Something churned in her gut at the thought of someone else being punished because of her actions. Sure, that guard was a creep, but he was still a person. And whatever the punishment the Bratva dealt out had to be bad. “Except maybe being a little creepy.”

Oliver let out a heavy sigh and scrubbed a hand down his face. “It’s not that simple, Felicity.”

“Yes, it is.” She insisted.

“It’s not,” He snapped, and Felicity flinched at his harsh tone. Oliver took a calming breath before he started to explain, “What if it hadn’t been you, Vladimir missed on the camera footage tonight? What if it would’ve been one my enemies? I have no shortage of people who want to hurt me and those I care about, Felicity. I will not allow that to happen, not again. I cannot let my men, those tasked with protecting those close to me, get away with small mistakes because those mistakes will get someone killed.”

Her stomach turned, as she was once again reminded of who exactly she was dealing with. Felicity understood his point, but… To live in a world where there could be no kindness, no forgiveness, where the stakes were always life and death?

She didn’t know how Oliver did it.

It sounded like a curse.

“I’m sorry.” Felicity finally said. “I didn’t realize. But I also didn’t want anyone to get in trouble because of me. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“I know. Don’t worry about it, it’s not your problem.” Oliver told her lightly. “Now, go back to bed.” 

She knew he wasn’t asking her, despite the gentleness in his tone, he was telling her. And for once, Felicity decided to listen to him.

“Goodnight, Oliver. Sweet dreams.”

He looked surprised. “Goodnight, Felicity.”

With that, she entered her room.

**

Oliver stopped by his room to change clothes before heading back to his office to finish his work. It was nearly four in the morning, but he knew he wouldn’t be sleeping. Hell, that was part of the reason he was already awake. Oliver hadn’t been able to sleep so he went to work on the QC proposals and contracts he was hopelessly behind in.

He poured a glass of scotch, more than he probably should’ve so early in the morning. Oliver set the decanter back on the wet bar in his office. He lifted the glass to his lips, swallowing down the smooth liquor. It burned on the way down, warming him up. He wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t cold to Felicity, but the heat felt pleasant.

His gaze was drawn once more to the patio doors.

Oliver almost didn’t believe the way he’d reacted tonight.

He wanted to regret his actions, but he couldn’t. Not when the alternative was what he had convinced him Felicity was doing. Oliver had truly thought she was trying to end it all. He knew she was miserable here, that she spent her days burying herself in books and movies to try and distract herself from the reality of her new life. And then…

Then he’d observed her standing at the edge of the pool, fully dressed, looking as sad and lonely as he’d ever seen her. The moonlight had shined on her blonde hair, and illuminated the tears glistening on her cheeks, giving her an ethereal glow. Felicity looked so beautiful, like a fallen angel who fell from the heavens. An angel whose only sin was involving herself with him.

A man known as the Beast who did nothing but taint the innocence of all those around him.

Including her.

Oliver had watched as Felicity took a deep breath, then dove under the water. When the surface stilled and the bubbles stopped but she hadn’t come back up, the panic that had squeezed his gut almost knocked him over. He hadn’t felt such an intense fear since… since before he became the Beast. Without a second thought, Oliver was sprinting from his office and over the balcony. Before he knew it, he was under the water and Felicity was in his arms, warm and fighting. Then he was angry. Angry at her for the choice Oliver thought she had made.

He had never been so happy to be wrong, even though what Felicity confided in him made him feel guilty.

Oliver fell back into his office chair with a heavy sigh.

“Damn it,” He cursed as some of the liquor spilled over the edge of cup and sloshed onto one of the contracts littering his desk. The scotch blurred the ink on the page. It signaled the end of his Queen Consolidated work. Oliver mentally switched focus to the Bratva. He needed to make clear Felicity had free roam of the mansion.

Oliver also needed to deal with Vladimir.

His fuck up tonight wouldn’t be tolerated. What Oliver had told Felicity was the honest truth. He couldn’t have his men make any mistakes, especially something as huge as missing someone on camera feeds.

There was also the fact that Oliver had seen the way Vladimir had looked at Felicity.

Oliver was well aware of the way most of men in the Bratva viewed women, especially those who weren’t connected to the Brotherhood by blood or marriage. He would not allow that kind of behavior in his house, or the outfit he controlled. Felicity was meant to feel safe here in Mansion. The same house his little sister lived in as well. While Thea was currently in Washington D.C. on a school trip, she returned next week. And with Felicity now feeling more comfortable to wander around the mansion, Vladimir needed to be long gone.

Oliver reached for his phone, dialing his second in commands number. John answered on the third ring.

“ _Oliver,”_ Diggle started sounding irritated, his voice hoarse like he had just woken up, “ _What the hell are you doing calling me before the suns up? I realize that you don’t sleep, but some of us, you know, us normal human beings, do.”_

“I need Vladimir out of the Mansion and reassigned. Demote him down to a _shestyorka_ and put him at Verdant handling deliveries.”

“ _Care to explain why?”_

“No.” Oliver hung up the phone. He knew John would do as he asked regardless of explanation. He had to get John to handle it himself, because Oliver had never liked Vladimir and he didn’t trust himself not to do something he would regret if he was alone with the man.

He was ‘The Beast’ for reason.

Oliver finished off his scotch. He decided against pouring another. It was too early to start day drinking, at least not when he had a long day of being a CEO ahead of him. He sighed, rubbing his temples where a headache was already forming. He was so out of his depth with a lot of the legitimate work he did at the company that he kept having to rely on other exec’s and department heads to help him through it. Oliver hated it. And he couldn’t hire an assistant to help with the workload, not when he had to sometimes handle Bratva business at QC. It was rare that he had to do so, usually keeping the two separate, but it happened. Especially if Oliver had to use QC in order to further a goal for the Bratva.

He also didn’t trust any of the men he commanded to work as his secretary either. None of them were intelligent enough, and Oliver refused to allow any member he didn’t fully trust near sensitive, and legitimate, Queen Consolidated documents. He glared at the contract he had ruined with the scotch. Oliver scrubbed a hand down his face tiredly, inhaling the lingering scent of chlorine on his skin.

Suddenly, it hit him.

Felicity.

She could do it. She could work as his executive assistant.

Sure, he’d have to be careful with her around computers and other tech, but it was about time that he put her to work on something. John had told Oliver whispers had started about her, and her presence in the family wing and in house, among the lower members of the Bratva and Oliver needed to put a stop to them. He couldn’t afford to look weak or like he had a soft spot for her. Because he didn’t. Oliver wanted to protect her, yes, but that just because of the deal with her, and part of that included her safety here. Her intelligence, and technology experience made her a perfect fit for working for QC with him, to finally help him make sense of some the projects there. She could also build up their cyber security.

While sometimes she’d have to deal with Bratva business as his assistant, Oliver would at least be with her so he could protect her from the worst of it, and keep Felicity’s innocence, her soul, intact. Oliver wouldn’t have to involve her in the more dangerous activities her father had done for them, while simultaneously stopping the rumors about her and his leadership when it came to her expertise. He’d be able to limit her involvement with the Bratva, yet still utilize her skills. She’d also be starting to fulfill her end of the deal they made. Not to mention, Felicity would be able to leave the mansion like she wanted to do so badly. She’d be happier.

It was the perfect solution.

Oliver was just pissed he hadn’t thought of it sooner. He glanced at the time. It was too early. He didn’t want to wake her up, so Oliver decided to let her sleep a few more hours then tell her himself before he into QC.

He was confident that she’d love the plan to become his executive assistant.


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I wanna tell you what my truth is  
> But it's buried down inside" - Dream by Bishop Briggs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I know i'm posting this kind of late but I have a really busy week or two ahead of me and didn't know when I'd find the time to post so i figure now is better safe than sorry. :)
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy and thank you all so much for reading!! 
> 
> Without further ado~

_The Queen Mansion: 8:10 am, later that morning_

A knock sounded on the door to Felicity’s room, startling her out of sleep. She groaned, pulling the pillow over her head and burying her face into the mattress. She wanted to sleep. She was completely exhausted. The person kept up their irritating knocking. Felicity rolled onto her back with an aggravated huff.

“Raisa, if it’s you pretty please come back later,” Felicity called out. “Andrei if that’s you, get lost before I murder you!”

She felt like she’d barely gotten any sleep.

The knocking ceased, and then, “Actually, it’s John Diggle.”

Felicity sat up quickly. What the heck was he doing at her door?

She slid out of the bed, grabbing her glasses and sliding them on her face as she walked to the door. She hesitated before she opened it, feeling nervous all of a sudden. Which was dumb because John had been nice to her when she met and she liked him well enough. Felicity took a breath and pulled open the door.

“Hi, John.” She greeted, smoothing down the wrinkles in her pajama pants.

“Good morning.” He answered, smiling kindly at her. “If you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Queen wants to see you in the dining room.”

Felicity’s eyebrows furrowed together. “Am I in trouble or something?”

“No, no,” John assured her quickly, but his eyes were twinkling with amusement. “He’d just like to speak with you about something. And I convinced him to talk to you in the dining room over breakfast so you could at least eat since you just woke up.”

“Oh, thanks, I guess?” She said, a little nervous for whatever talk Oliver wanted to have. Felicity sighed. “This isn’t you actually asking me, is it? I have to go?”

Diggle just smiled at her, not saying a word.

“That’s what I thought.” She grabbed the door handle. “Give me ten minutes to wash my face and get presentable.”

“I’ll be here.” John said pleasantly. “Take your time.”

Felicity shut the door, rolling her eyes a little. He said to take her time, but she also knew that she couldn’t actually do that. Eight minutes later, she emerged with her face freshly washed, her hair and teeth brushed, and dressed in a fresh pair of leggings and her old MIT sweatshirt. Diggle led her to the dining room, he tried to talk to her on the way, but Felicity mostly responded with vague sounds and hums because her mind was busy worrying about what the heck Oliver wanted.

“Good morning,” Oliver greeted when she entered the dining room. “Hope you slept well.”

“Uhm, kind of.” Felicity said, taking a seat at the table. John sat down across from her, a smirk on his face. A young female staff member placed a hot cup of coffee in front of her, along with sugar and cream on the side. She smiled at her. “Thank you for the coffee.”

She looked startled that Felicity addressed her but nodded once, a nervous smile on her lips. She was pretty, with dark hair and eyes and very defined, high cheekbones. “Your food will be out shortly, Miss.”

“Great,” Felicity’s eyes dropped to her name tag. “Thank you again, Natalia.”

Natalia seemed even more surprised Felicity said her name and backed away to stand against the wall where the staff usually stood, ready to help at a moments notice. To only be seen and not heard. It bothered Felicity. It reminded her too much of the way her mother was sometimes treated while she waited tables. Felicity had done her share of waitressing before too, back when she had been old enough to start working and they needed the extra money. She hated every second of it. So many people treated her like she wasn’t even a person or male patrons were creepy. It was awful.

“Felicity,” Oliver called out, bringing her attention back to him. Felicity gave him a look in question. “I’ve come to a solution on how we’re to handle your end of the deal we made.”

Her heart leapt into her throat. “Okay, which is?”

“You’ll be working at Queen Consolidated as my executive assistant, helping me handle my business there. You start tomorrow.” Oliver said firmly. He looked pleased with himself, like he was expecting her to thank him.

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

Was he fucking serious?

He wanted her to be his secretary?

“No.” Felicity told him vehemently, her voice getting a little louder as she glared at Oliver. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw John grin.

“Excuse me?” Oliver said quietly, setting down his coffee cup with a slow, controlled movement. His voice was calm, but his eyes were lit up in annoyance.

“You heard me. I said no.” She repeated, glowering at him. “I can say it in Russian if you’d like. _Nyet._ ”

He stared at her for a long moment, but Felicity didn’t break the eye contact, meeting his angry gaze with her own fiery eyes. Oliver didn’t look away from her as he raised his right hand in a dismissive gesture. Natalia filed out of the room without a word, along with another staff member who had stood near Oliver. But John stayed, watching the two of them like it was tennis match.

“This isn’t a choice, Felicity,” Oliver said from between gritted teeth, his jaw clenched to the point she saw a muscle jump in his cheek. “You will be working as my EA. You start tomorrow. End of discussion.” He stood from his seat.

Felicity pushed her chair back, standing up as well.

“No,” She pointed at him threateningly, her Loud Voice coming out. “I will not! I’m not a secretary. Never have been, never will be. And I sure as Hell won’t be yours. I went to MIT, Oliver,” Felicity prodded at the MIT letters on the front of her sweatshirt as evidence. “Where I earned a dual masters degree in Computer Science and Cyber Security, _not_ the secretarial arts. I won’t do it. This was so not the deal we made!”

Felicity watched as he took a deep breath then released it like he was trying to calm himself down. Oliver straightened his long white sleeves of his dress shirt, adjusting his cuff links with stilted movements.

“The deal we made,” Oliver said lowly, his voice more of growl than anything else. “Was that you’d work for me in whatever capacity I saw fit to clear your fathers debt. This is what I’ve decided on, and you will hold up your end.” It was an order.

One she didn’t intend to take.

“Oh no, mister.” Felicity said, walking around the side of the table and jabbing her index finger into the middle of his chest. He glowered down at her, his much larger frame easily towering over her. Some part of her mind registered that that was a very stupid idea, but she was too angry to care. “We made a deal that I would do what my father did for you in the _Bratva_. And for some reason, I don’t think he was your personal secretary. If you want me to hack your enemies for secret information or drain their bank accounts or set up untraceable offshore accounts or launder money online, then fine, I’ll do that.” His eyebrows shot up almost into his hairline, and Felicity jabbed her finger one more time into his hard chest. “But what I won’t do is be your _secretary_!”

“Executive assistant!” Oliver exclaimed, throwing up his hands in exasperation. “Not my secretary. And I had thought that you’d _appreciate_ ,” He emphasized the word frustratedly, “That I am trying to keep you from going down that path, Felicity. Once you go down it, there’s no return.”

Felicity dropped her finger and scoffed.

“Please, Oliver. This isn’t the first time I’ve used my computer skills for hacking and illegal activities. I am my father’s daughter, after all.” She said bitterly. Felicity shook her head, clearing the thought. “But I didn’t agree to be your _executive assistant_.” Her voice was sarcastic.

She heard John snort from where he watched them.

“I don’t care.” He said heatedly, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You will be at Queen Consolidated tomorrow, and you will be my EA. It’s not a choice, it’s a command. You work for me now. If I have to have to throw you over my shoulder, kicking and screaming, and take you there myself, I will.” Oliver glared at her; his head tilted down so he could meet her eyes. They were nearly toe to toe and chest to chest, completely in each others personal space. 

“Fine,” Felicity agreed angrily, gritting her teeth. She knew when to pick her battles, and she would lose this one, no matter what she said. She had a feeling he was completely serious about his threat of physically carrying her there. “But I need clothes. And shoes. I don’t have anything appropriate to wear to an office to be a CEO’s _secretary_ , sorry executive assistant,” She gave him a sickly sweet smile, “And I need to look the part.” 

“What are you talking about? You just had your belongings delivered here.”

“Yeah, some of them. Not all. And I didn’t have them get any of my work outfits because I didn’t think I’d be working in an office while I was here.” It was true. All Felicity asked for clothes wise was her more casual outfits, underwear and pajamas. She didn’t think she’d need anything else, and she didn’t want to get too comfortable here. It was just temporary.

“Fine.” Oliver sighed. He glanced at John, who wore an amused grin. “Mr. Diggle will take you shopping today for more clothes. Get what you need, I’ll cover it.”

“Thank you so much, Oliver. How truly kind of you.” Felicity said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “But don’t think I’ll be getting you coffee. Because that won’t be happening. Ever.” She crossed her arms.

Oliver looked up at the ceiling like he was praying for strength.

“I have one more condition.” She told him stubbornly.

“You’re not in the position to be giving me demands, Felicity.” Oliver said, but something in his voice sounded almost amused now.

“I want access to my tech again. All of it. My computer, my phone, my tablet. I want it all back, unsupervised.”

Oliver stared at her. “No.”

“Yes.”

“I said no, Felicity.”

She threw up her hands. “How the hell am I supposed to do my job as your EA if I can’t have my tech?”

“You’ll have access only at QC, observed by Diggle and I.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Felicity scoffed. “You’re gonna spend every second I’m using a computer watching me? When you both have jobs to do? Not to mention, I’m sure your workday doesn’t always end at QC and you have to bring it here, which means I’ll probably have to help you. You really expect to be able to do your job while watching me do mine?”

“I…,” Oliver started irately before he stopped. Grudging resolve passed over his face as he realized she was right. Felicity smirked. When he spoke again, it was through gritted teeth, “Fine. You can have it back tomorrow morning before work.”

“Unsupervised?” Felicity asked, a little tauntingly.

“Unsupervised.” Oliver said shortly. She smiled brightly. He gestured to Diggle and ignored her completely. “John walk me out.”

The man in question stood up, shooting Felicity a small smile, before following his boss out of the room. Felicity sat back in her chair with an annoyed huff. She couldn’t believe him. Contrary to what the big bad ‘Beast’ thought, she didn’t sign up to be his stupid ‘executive assistant’ than was barely more than a secretary. When she made her deal with him, she went in with the understanding that’d she be doing what her father did, nothing less and nothing more.

Felicity had goals for her life. She had a career back in New York that put her on the track to meet those goals, like eventually being a CEO herself.

Not an assistant to one.

“Stupid Oliver,” Felicity muttered under breath, “Stupid life, stupid father, stupid everything.”

“Miss Felicity?” She heard a Russian accented female voice ask hesitantly. Felicity jumped, not expecting it, and turned to see Natalia standing in the doorway with a plate in her hands. “Would you like to eat now? The _Kapitan_ has left.”

“Sure,” Felicity agreed, attempting a smile at the young woman even though she had no appetite anymore.

Natalia walked forwards and set down the plate of food in front of Felicity. It was eggs, toast, hash browns, and fruit. It looked amazing and it was also way more than she could ever eat.

“Thanks, Natalia.” Then an idea struck Felicity. “Have you eaten? Do you want to sit down and share some of this with me?”

The dark haired woman looked surprised, and a little spooked. “Oh no, Miss Felicity. I can’t.”

“I promise it’s alright. I don’t mind. And I won’t tell Oliver.” Felicity encouraged. Her voice sounded hopeful to her own ears, but she really didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts right then.

“You call him by his first name?” Natalia asked, her mouth opening in shock.

“Uh, yes?”

“But he’s the _Kapitan._ He’s,” Natalia’s brown eyes looked around suspiciously, before whispering. “The Beast.”

“So I’ve heard.” She rolled her eyes. Felicity started to think some of those tales were a little exaggerated. He’d never acted like… like a _beast_ to her. Rude and gruff, sure, but he hadn’t been terrible in the ways he could’ve been. Felicity almost hated herself for thinking that. For giving him credit for not being as awful as he could be when he was the one forcing her to stay here. “And he’s not my Captain.”

Natalia sat down next to her and leaned forwards conspiratorially. “Did you really raise your voice at him?”

“Oh.” Felicity was a little embarrassed she overheard them argue. “Kind of?”

The young woman giggled. “I have never heard of anyone yelling at the _Kapitan_ and getting away with it. You must be a very lucky woman.”

“Trust me, I’m not. In fact, I have very, very, bad luck.”

“Then he must care for you.”

“Um,” Felicity rapidly shook her head ‘no.’ “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me, probably because I actually do yell at him.”

Oliver didn’t care about her. Not like Natalia was insinuating.

Sure, he cared if she lived or died but that was just because of the deal they had.

Natalia gave her a disbelieving look. “You stay in the family wing, yes? I have never seen anyone allowed to stay there unless they are the _Kapitan_ himself or Miss Thea. He does not bring anyone else into that wing.”

Felicity furrowed her eyebrows. “No one?”

She shook her head. Natalia lowered her voice, “When the _Kapitan_ has… _guests,_ ” She emphasized, and Felicity felt her face flush as she understood her meaning. “It is known among the staff that he brings the women to the other side of the house, to the guest wing. They do not stay the night.”

“Oh,” Felicity squeaked, slightly uncomfortable. “Uhm, does that happen a lot? The guests?”

“Not for a little while.” Natalia said smiling, then giggled. “My friend Katya has to clean those rooms after, so she is very happy it has stopped.”

“That’s good for Katya,” Felicity nodded, her head spinning a little. She was finding out way more than she wanted to about Oliver. Natalia, while sweet, was apparently a gossip. And Russian’s apparently had no filter or concept of keeping private matters, well, _private_.

She really didn’t want to know about Oliver’s sex life.

“Felicity?” Diggle entered the room, looking between her and Natalia curiously. “Oh. Hello there.”

Natalia jumped up, straightening her skirt. She nodded her head respectively to John. “Hello, Mr. Diggle.” She turned to Felicity. “I must go, Ms. Felicity.”

Before she could say a word, Natalia was out of the room. Felicity stared at Diggle.

“So,” She sighed. “You’re my babysitter today?”

He flashed a black Amex card. “And card carrier.”

“Awesome.” Felicity grimaced, glaring at the credit card. “I’m gonna spend so much of his stupid Bratva money.”

Diggle chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “He won’t notice. He’s very rich.”

She shoved the food she never even started to eat away from her, no longer having an appetite. Felicity stood up, glancing at Diggle. “I’m going to get changed and ready, I’ll met you at the bottom of the stairs in like forty-five minutes.”

“You’re not eating?” He asked with a frown.

“Not hungry.”

“Alright, well I’ll be there.”

**

_Starling Mall: 12:37 pm the same day_

Four hours later, and Felicity had gotten way more work clothes than she’d ever need, along with shoes. But she didn’t care because it wasn’t her money, and she almost wanted Oliver to see his credit card statements and get pissed at the amount she was spending. Mostly because Felicity never even wanted to be his stupid EA in the first place, and that was the only reason she needed them.

Diggle had been a trooper the entire time. He was never rude or dismissive, and way more polite than Andrei. Plus, Diggle actually talked to her. They’d most stuck to small talk, skirting around Oliver, her life and her newfound job. Felicity actually liked the man. He was calm, but still funny, in a dry, sarcastic kind of way.

“What do you think?” Felicity said, twirling in another new dress with high heels to match. It was a dark green in color, fitted to her waist and then it flared out into a full skirt that stopped right above her knees. She loved the color but wasn’t sold on the cut of the dress. It wasn’t the vibe she was going for. Felicity wanted Miranda Priestly in _The Devil Wears Prada_ vibes, not sweet secretary.

“It looks nice,” Diggle repeated for what felt like the millionth time. It was the only thing he’d say when she asked for his opinion on what she tried on. Felicity had even put on a horrendous bright traffic cone orange dress that looked awful on her to get a reaction, and his answer was still ‘looks nice.’

She rolled her eyes.

Men.

“Yeah, but is it badass, cross me and I’ll step on you with my stiletto’s while still being professional,” Felicity explained, twirling once more in front of the full body mirror in the lobby of the dressing room. “Or is it sweet and a little too… cute?”

“Uh, why do I feel like the second one is the wrong answer?” He asked, looking perplexed. Diggle sat in one of the chairs the store provided with a pile of different shopping bags at his feet.

“Because it is.”

“Okay, then it’s the first one?” Diggle said it like a question instead of a statement. 

“Yeah, I’m not getting it.” Felicity said decisively and went back into the dressing room to take it off. When she exited it redressed her own clothes, Diggle was on his talking on his phone in Russian. He kept his voice low, but harsh sounding, and he seemed irritated. “What’s wrong?”

He said a few more things in Russian that she didn’t understand before he hung up the phone. “Nothing. But we’ll need to cut this trip short because I have to handle something at Verdant.”

“That doesn’t sound like nothing.” Felicity told him, crossing her arms. “Am I allowed to go?”

Diggle hesitated. “I don’t have time to drop you off at the Mansion, but,” He emphasized the word and pointed at her. “You will be staying in the car. You’re not going inside.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so.”

“That’s not fair. You can’t tell me what to do.” They both knew that wasn’t totally true.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m your bodyguard for the day and Oliver would be pissed if he found out I let you in there.”

“So, bodyguard me inside Verdant,” Felicity said. She didn’t know why she was pushing so hard to go there, but she was really curious about the nightclub slash Bratva front. And if it would piss Oliver off that was just a bonus. “And he doesn’t have to know. I know he’s your boss or Captain or whatever, but you don’t need to tell him everything.”

“No, Felicity.” Diggle said firmly. “You stay in the car.”

“Fine.”

He looked at her like he didn’t believe her, which was… accurate, because she was definitely not staying in the car. But Diggle didn’t need to know that yet, so Felicity just smiled innocently at him.

Forty-five minutes later, they pulled up in front of Verdant. It was late afternoon so the club wasn’t opened yet, but there were still a few cars parked outside. Most likely staff prepping for the night, and Bratva members doing whatever they did there. Diggle turned to face her where she sat in the passengers seat. He gave her a stern look.

“Stay in the SUV and lock the doors. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Rodger that.” Felicity gave him a sarcastic thumbs up.

“You’re not gonna stay in the car, are you?” Diggle sighed defeatedly.

“Probably not.”

“Damn it.” He unlocked the doors and pointed threateningly at her. “You will not tell Oliver about this, do you understand?”

“I understand.” Felicity said excitedly, “I have no problem not telling him things.”

“You will also not talk to anyone unless I say so, clear?”

“We’re clear.” She hopped out of the passenger seat, landing on the asphalt of the parking lot. It crunched under her sneakers. “Let’s go, Dig.”

John got out of the car and locked the doors behind them. He walked towards the main entrance and motioned for her to follow him. She did. Diggle opened the door to Verdant for her and she went in. Felicity took in her surroundings, intrigued by the club.

It had a really industrial feel to it; concrete floors, steel support beams and columns, metal tables and a large bar that lined an almost entire wall that was made up of mismatched sheet metal. The club was two floors, with metal stairs that led up to a second level that had tables and private booths scattered across it. She saw a closed door on the upper floor that had no placard on it designating what it was, and she guessed it was an office or led to a hallway that had offices so they could do Bratva business.

Despite the cold hard interior, Verdant still felt welcoming and like a good place to party.

Diggle moved past her and pulled out one of the stools lining the bars. He patted the seat. “You, sit here. Don’t move and don’t talk to anyone.”

Felicity rolled her eyes but did as he asked. “Where are you going?”

“Back room to deal with something.” He barely explained, gesturing to a hallway right off the end of the bar. She figured there were more rooms back there like the storage and bathrooms. Diggle walked away before she could say another word.

Felicity sighed. So far, she hadn’t seen anyone else or anything suspicious. Nothing that screamed ‘This is front for the Bratva.’ Verdant just looked like a normal club. Which is what she supposed made it such a good cover.

“Who the hell are you?” A slightly angry voice said from behind her.

Felicity jumped in her seat, startled. She turned around to see a man, no, boy, who couldn’t be older than eighteen holding a large push broom. He had a sharp jawline and wore a red hoodie and ripped jeans that looked like they’d seen better days. He looked mad, but she wasn’t really intimidated by him. He was a little on the shorter side, and fairly lean.

Besides, he seemed angrier at the world, than her specifically.

“Felicity Smoak.” She told him, completely disregarding John’s rule of not talking to anyone. Then again, the kid talked to her first, so she wasn’t technically breaking it. “Who the hell are you?”

“None your business, lady.” He snarked, stepping closer. “You can’t be in here.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t. We’re not open yet.”

“Oh,” Felicity looked around with faux astonishment on her face like she’d just realized it was empty. “Wow, I just noticed that. No wonder why I’ve been waiting here for a drink for the past five minutes. That explains a lot.”

He frowned. “You need to leave.”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t. Diggle brought me here, I’m just waiting on him.”

He seemed surprised. “Mr. Diggle brought you?”

“Yep,” Felicity confirmed. “We were together and he got some urgent call and had to bring me so he could deal with it.”

“I heard about that, I’d hate to be that guy who—,” He cut himself off, observing her wearily like he didn’t know what she knew. “Nevermind.”

“Everyone is so secretive around this place,” She muttered under her breath. Felicity attempted a smile at him. “Now that you know I’m allowed to be here, will you tell me your name?”

“Roy,” The kid said after a moment of hesitation. “Harper.”

“Nice to meet you, Roy,” She held out her hand for him to shake, “Felicity Smoak. But you already know that because I told you a couple minutes ago and my name hasn’t changed since then.” Felicity grinned a little at her joke.

Roy stared at her like he wasn’t quite sure what to make of her, but he shook her hand. It was brief, and he dropped it after a moment. They were both silent.

“Um, so,” Felicity said, breaking the silence. “You work here?” She wondered if he was a member of the Bratva too.

Probably.

“Yeah, I’m a barback, clean stuff up and… run errands.” Roy told her.

Well, that cleared it up for her.

He was definitely Bratva. Felicity frowned. He was just a kid.

“I’m not just a kid,” Roy said defensively. Frack, she must’ve said it all out loud. “I’m eighteen. And I’ve been Bratva for a year now. Besides, you look like you’re barely 21. I bet you still get IDed when you go out to bars.”

“I’m 22!”

He smirked at her annoyance. “You didn’t deny it, Blondie.”

“Shut up, Roy.” She rolled her eyes. “And don’t call me that.”

“So, what? You and Mr. Diggle are dating or something?” Roy asked, looking her up and down.

“No,” Felicity spluttered. “I’m not dating Dig.”

He seemed confused. “You said you two were together earlier?”

“Yeah, like hanging out together.” She explained hastily, “He took me shopping.” Roy’s eyebrows raised. “Wait, no, not like that,” Felicity babbled, “It wasn’t romantic shopping for like a girlfriend because I’m not his girlfriend. I needed work clothes because Oliver is an asshole, and I didn’t have anything to wear for tomorrow when I start as his EA so I told Oliver he had to buy me some stuff but he made Dig take me shopping and—,”

“Hold on,” Roy cut in incredulously. “So, you’re dating Oliver Queen?”

“What?” Felicity exclaimed. “No! Why do you think I’m dating everyone?”

“Because you look like that,” He gestured to her body, and she felt mildly offended. “And you’re on first name basis with Oliver Queen, who is one scary motherfucker, and his personal bodyguard and second in command is taking you shopping on the Captain’s order. And I’ve heard some stuff about a young woman living in the mansion with him. So seems pretty clear to me.”

“Um, no. Not clear at all. I don’t know what you’ve heard but no.” Felicity said rapidly, “I am not dating Oliver. Or Diggle. Or anyone. In fact, I don’t even want to be in this stupid city.”

“Then why are you?”

“Long, and sucky, story.”

“Oh,” Roy said, not seeming very sympathetic. Instead he was curious, “How’d you end up as the Captains secretary?”

“She’s an executive assistant. Not a secretary.” Diggle chimed in, suddenly appearing next them. He glared reproachfully at her. “I told you not to talk to anyone.”

“Roy talked to me first.” Felicity shrugged.

Roy shot daggers at her. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t know she was with you, so I asked her why she was here.” He sounded worried and not for the first time, Felicity wondered what exactly kind of punishments the Bratva doled out.

John studied the teenager. “Roy Harper, right?”

He nodded.

“Don’t worry about it. You were doing your job.” Diggle said, then muttered under his breath. “More than I can say for some people.” He straightened up and stared down Roy. “Vladimir was transferred here to handle shipments and deliveries. However, he wasn’t a good fit. He’s no longer apart of our organization. So, I’d like you, Roy, to pick up the slack while we search for his replacement. I’ll make sure Mr. Queen hears about how you’ve stepped up and maybe it’ll be you. How does that sound?”

Felicity’s stomach turned.

No longer apart of the organization?

Did John just kill him?

Felicity didn’t like the man but still…

“No problem, Mr. Diggle.” Roy said quickly. “I can handle it.”

“Hold up,” Felicity interrupted. She stared at Diggle in shock. “What did you just do back there? Is he… dead?”

“That’s not your problem, Felicity.” He said firmly, but kindly. “Let’s go.”

Feeling like her head was spinning, Felicity stood up and followed him out of the club.

She suddenly wished she’d never gone in.

**

_The Queen Mansion: 6:45 pm, later that night_

Oliver sat in his office, trying and failing to look over QC contracts. He was restless. Tomorrow, he’d be bringing in Felicity to work with him and he truly didn’t know what to expect with her. He hadn’t expected her vehement reaction against working at QC with him.

“Oliver?” John’s voice called out through the shut door while he knocked once.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Diggle stepped in. Oliver read the look on his second in commands face and frowned. “What happened?”

“Vladimir is dead.” Diggle said bluntly.

Oliver blinked in surprise. “What?”

“There was a fight at Verdant between the men earlier today. Vladimir was apparently bad mouthing you and your leadership, Ivan defended you. They fought and Vladimir lost.” Diggle explained. He didn’t seem bothered. “I handled it.”

Honestly, neither was Oliver. He’d never liked Vladimir, but Diggle should’ve told him. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, John?”

“Because I had it handled.” Diggle said firmly, moving to sit in the chair in front of Oliver’s desk. “Vladimir was a waste of space in this organization, so it’s no big loss and it’s my job to deal with these issues when you’re unavailable. You were at your day job and I knew you were stressed, man. I’m here for a reason and it’s not to just be your black bodyguard and driver.”

“You should’ve told me sooner.”

“I’m telling you now.”

Oliver glared at him. “When did it happen?”

Diggle looked reluctant. “While I was out with Felicity.”

“What? You didn’t bring her there with you, did you?” He demanded irately.

“She wasn’t involved in me handling it, no.” John said carefully.

Oliver didn’t like that answer. It sounded too practiced, like John was lying.

“You’re not going to ask what they argued about?” Diggle said instead of elaborating. He leaned back in the chair casually and observed Oliver critically. Oliver raised an eyebrow to silently tell him to continue. “Vladimir thought you were going soft because of Felicity, said you were being a bad leader and handling the Kuttler disappearing wrong. He thought you should’ve taken both of the Smoak women, killed Donna as a message and left Felicity for the men to do with as they pleased. Apparently, it would’ve been the best way to send a message to the Calculator.”

Oliver felt his stomach turn, but he kept his face blank. He had a massive propensity for violence himself, but he’d never allow that kind of treatment under his rule. “And Ivan?”

“He’s fine.” John shrugged. “That man is as loyal as a golden retriever to you. He told Vladimir it wasn’t his place to question the Captains decisions, and especially not when the Bratva is doing well and being profitable. Vladimir disagreed and well, you know the rest.”

“I can’t have these rumors of being weak to continue. It’s dangerous.” Oliver said, completely frustrated. None of this was an issue until Felicity came into his home.

He’d never been accused of being weak until her.

“Well, hopefully when word gets out about Vladimir’s death it’ll put a stop to them.” John mused, then looked at him seriously. “But Oliver, man, being kind doesn’t make you weak. You’ve showed Felicity more kindness lately than I’ve seen you ever show anyone who’s not Thea. That doesn’t make you weak. That makes you stronger, better than before.”

Oliver didn’t break eye contact with Diggle, but his index finger and thumb started to rub together in an unconscious nervous tick.

“This is the Bratva, Diggle. There is no such thing as kindness. I don’t hurt women and all I’ve done is to try and protect Felicity from the worst of the Brotherhood. It’s not kindness, it’s…” Oliver trailed off before picking back up, “She’s just an innocent and she doesn’t belong here.”

John shook his head like he was exasperated. “Then why make her stay?”

“You know why.” Oliver snapped at him in agitation. “Blood for blood.”

“But you had Donna Smoak. Kuttler’s wife and mother of his only child. That’s blood too.” Diggle pushed. “And yet, you let Felicity take her place.”

“She was more useful to me than her mother was.”

“Really, Oliver? Is that all?”

Oliver cursed in Russian under his breath. He glared at Diggle. “If you have something to say, Diggle, say it.”

Despite Oliver’s obvious anger, Diggle didn’t seem fazed. There was a calm expression on his face as he stood from his chair. “I don’t have anything to say to you that you don’t already know, Oliver.”

With that cryptic statement, John left the office leaving Oliver silently fuming, and a little puzzled, in his wake.

**Author's Note:**

> any comments or kudos would be wonderful :) they'll help inspire me to write more lol :)


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